Homotaurine is a synthetic organic compound

Organic compound

An organic compound is any member of a large class of gaseous, liquid, or solid chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of carbon-containing compounds such as carbides, carbonates, simple oxides of carbon, and cyanides, as well as the...

. It is analogous to taurine, but with an extra carbon in its chain. Because of its similarity in structure to the neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse. Neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles clustered beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to...

 gamma-aminobutyric acid

Gamma-aminobutyric acid

γ-Aminobutyric acid is the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system. It plays a role in regulating neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system...

 (GABA), it has GABAergic effects and may be useful as an anticonvulsant.

Homotaurine has also been investigated as a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...

. It binds to soluble amyloid beta

Amyloid beta

Amyloid beta is a peptide of 36–43 amino acids that is processed from the Amyloid precursor protein. While it is most commonly known in association with Alzheimer's disease, it does not exist specifically to cause disease...

 and inhibits the formation of neurotoxic aggregates that lead to amyloid plaque deposition in the brain. However, clinical trials failed to show value

Homotaurine is a zwitterion

Zwitterion

In chemistry, a zwitterion is a neutral molecule with a positive and a negative electrical charge at different locations within that molecule. Zwitterions are sometimes also called inner salts.-Examples:...

 at neutral pH

PH

In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...

.