Development of a One-Step Synthesis of 5‑Amino‑1H‑imidazole-4-carboxamide

An innovative and efficient synthesis of 5-amino-1H-imidazole-4-carboxamide (AIC) from commercially available hypoxanthine (∼$30/kg) is described. The development of the key hydrolysis step and a practical isolation enables a highly efficient one-step manufacturing process for AIC with minimal environmental impact and significant reduction of production cost.