The enantiomer of strychnine is a weak antagonist of the inhibitory glycine receptor

ent-Strychnine (2) was synthesized for the first time from (1R,4S)-(+)-4-hydroxy-2-cyclopentenyl acetate (3) by a slight modification of the sequence recently employed to prepare natural (−)-strychnine. ent-Strychnine is about a 1000 fold weaker antagonist of the inhibitory glycine receptor expressed in oocytes than natural (−)-strychnine.