Prostanoic acid (7-[(1S,2S)-2-octylcyclopentyl]heptanoic acid) is a saturated fatty acid which contains a cyclopentane ring. Its derivatives are prostaglandins - physiologically active lipid substances. Prostanoic acid is not found in nature, but it can be synthesized in vitro.
For the first time the synthesis of prostanoic acid from 1-formylcyclopentene was considered in detail in the scientific literature in 1975 by a group of French pharmacists.[1] One year later, a group of Japanese scientists, who worked in the central research laboratory of the "Sankyo Co., Ltd." company (Shinagawa, Tokyo), published another method for obtaining prostanoic acid from 2-[4-hydroxy-5-(methoxymethyl)cyclopent-2-en-1-yl] acetic acid.[2] In 1986, a group of Japanese scientists from Kyushu University in Fukuoka proposed their own scheme for obtaining prostanoic acid from limonene.[3]