A Practical, Laboratory-Scale Synthesis of Perampanel

The orally active, noncompetitive, selective AMPA receptor antagonist Perampanel, 2-[1′,6′-dihydro-6′-oxo-1-phenyl-(2′,3′-bipyridin)-5′-yl]benzonitrile, has been prepared from readily available, relatively inexpensive starting materials. The synthesis was carried out on a laboratory scale with no specialized equipment, and involved only two chromatographic purifications.