The total synthesis of solenopsin has been described by several methods. A proposed method of synthesis(Figure 1) starts with alkylation of 4-chloropyridine with a Grignard reagent derived from 1-bromoundecane, followed by reaction with phenyl chloroformate to form 4-chloro-1-(phenoxycarbonyl)-2-n-undecyl-1,2-dihydropyridine. The phenylcarbamate is converted to the BOC protecting group, and then pyridine is methylated at the 6 position. The pyridine ring is then reduced to a tetrahydropyridine via catalytic hydrogenation with Pd/C and then further reduced with sodium cyanoborohydride to a piperidine ring. The BOC group is finally removed to yield solenopsin. A number of analogs have been synthesized using modifications of this procedure.
A shorter method of synthesis stemming from commercially-available lutidine has been more recently proposed.