(Ā)-Merrilactone A ((Ā)-1, Figure 1), a sesquiterpenoid isolated from Illicium merrillianum in 2000 by Fukuyama and coworkers,[1, 2] has been shown to possess neuroprotective and neuritogenic activity in cultures of fetal rat cortical neurons. Small molecules with these neurotrophic effects are expected to be useful as metabolically stable alternatives to endogenous neurotrophic factors, and thus as therapeutic agents for the ...