Josephine W. Reed

Morphine Synthesis and Biosynthesis-An Update

Bennett H. Novak1, Tomas Hudlicky* 1, Josephine W. Reed1, Johann Mulzer*2 and Dirk Trauner2 1Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7200, USA 2Institut fur Organische Chemie der Universitat Wien, Wahringerstrase 38 A-1090 Vienna, Austria Abstract: This review covers recent developments in the area of morphine synthesis and biosynthesis. Literature is reviewed since the publication of the last major review. The first part of the chapter discusses recent advancements in biosynthesis of morphine alkaloids. Total syntheses published since 1996 are reviewed next and the third section discusses all published approaches to morphine skeleton. At the end of the of the chapter, an additional reference list is provided for synthesis of medicinally important derivatives, improvements in alkoloid interconversion, as well as a list of all dissertations dealing with morphine synthesis.

Rearrangements of Vinylcyclopropanes and Related Systems

Perhaps it is appropriate that this review be written some 100 years after the report of the first syntheses of cyclopropane derivatives by von Baeyer1 and Perkin2 and the formulation of the ‘theory of ring strain’ by von Baeyer.1 The chemistry of small ring compounds has risen to prominence in the last 30 years. The popularity especially of the three-membered rings as intermediates in synthetic transformations has been due primarily to their latent energy content and to the almost endless number of chemical transformations in which these compounds and their derivatives can participate. New applications and novel permutations of the basic systems continue to appear at a fast pace. The fascinating chemistry associated with the strain of these intermediates continues to find wide applicability in the field of synthetic methodology and in the total synthesis of complex molecules.

Practical preparation of some potentially anesthetic fluoroalkanes : regiocontrolled introduction of hydrogen atoms

Abstract Methods are described for the large-scale preparation of a number of fluoroalkanes, which have been tested for general anesthesia.