Lysergic acid is listed as a Table I precursor under the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

[4] Lysergic acid is generally produced by hydrolysis[5] of natural lysergamides, but can also be synthesized in the laboratory by a complex total synthesis, for example by Robert Burns Woodward's team in 1956.

[6] An enantioselective total synthesis based on a palladium-catalyzed domino cyclization reaction has been described in 2011 by Fujii and Ohno.

The isomer with inverted configuration at carbon atom 8 close to the carboxyl group is called isolysergic acid.

[9] Morning glory: Argyreia nervosa (Hawaiian Baby Woodrose), Ipomoea spp.