Dipropylacetic acid sodium

Sodium valproate is sodium 2-propylpentanoate. It is also known as sodium dipropylacetic acid, sodium 2-propylvalerate, sodium dipro-pylacetate, sodium di-n-propylacetate, and by many slight variations of the particular nomenclature. 

Valproic acid is the common name for 2-propylpentanoic acid (Epival usually used as its sodium salt), also referred to as n-dipropylacetic acid, is a simple branched-chain carboxylic acid with unique anticonvulsant properties. Valproic acid was first synthesized in 1882 by Burton [75], but there was no known clinical use until its anticonvulsant activity was fortuitously discovered by Pierre Eymard in 1962 in the laboratory of G. Carraz, which was published by Meunier et al. in 1963 [76]. 

Valproic acid, valproate sodium, and (DVP) are carboxylic acid-derivative anticonvulsants. Divalproex sodium is a stable coordination compound consisting of valproic acid and valproate sodium in a 1 1 molar ratio (AHFS, 2000). It is a pro-drug of valproate, dissociating into valproate in the GI tract (AHFS, 2000), and a simple branched-chain carboxylic acid (w-dipropylacetic acid) with antiepileptic activity against a variety of types of seizures (Beydoun et al., 1997). Divalproex sodium has been approved for treating adults with simple and complex absence seizures (Mattson et al., 1992), and for mania. It has shown efficacy across a broad spectrum of BD subtypes (i.e., pure mania, mixed mania, and rapid cycling) (Pope et al., 1991 Bowden et al., 1994). 

Dipropyl acetic acid or valproic acid may be prepared the next way. Propylbromide is mixed with cyanacetic acid in the presence of sodium ethylate, made from absolute ethanol and sodium. By that prepared a,a-dipropylcyanacetic acid ethyl ester is saponified with equimolecular amounts of NaOH to give dipropylacetonitril. The desired dipropylacetic acid is produced by saponification of dipropylacetonitryl with aquatic NaOH. It is colorless liquid. BP 219°-220°C. 

FORMATION OF A NEW AMINO ACID AS A METABOLIC INTERMEDIATE OF SODIUM DIPROPYLACETATE... 

Using GC-MS a N-acetylated amino acid, 2-n propyl-3-(N-acety1-amino)pentanoic acid, was identified in the urine from rats treated with sodium dipropylacetate (DPA). 

Matsumoto, L, Kuhara, T. and Yoshimo, M. (1976), Metabolism of branched medium chain length fatty acid. II. )8-Oxidation of sodium dipropylacetate in rats. Biomed. Mass Spectrom., 3,235. 

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