Syntheses of Morphine and Codeine (1992 – 2002): Templates for Exploration of Synthetic Tools
Current Organic Synthesis, 2006, 3, 99-120 99 Syntheses of Morphine and Codeine (1992 – 2002): Templates for Exploration of Synthetic Tools L. M. Mascavage#, M. L. Wilson and D. R. Dalton* Department of Chemistry (016-00), Beury Hall, 13th and Norris Streets, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA and Department of Chemistry, Arcadia University, Glenside, PA, 19038, USA Abstract: Morphine (1) and its O-methylated analogue codeine (2), analgesic alkaloids of the opium poppy (Papaver Somniferium), have been targets of organic chemists engaged in synthetic activities for at least half a century. The “first” (Gates) and “most efficient” (Rice) syntheses of morphine (1) and codeine (2) are well known and have been reviewed and analyzed extensively numerous times. However, syntheses of the same two alkaloids that have been reported since 1992 and which have been used as devices to advance the art of organic synthesis are not as widely recognized and they have not been as thoroughly reviewed. Here they are analyzed in the spirit of the use of these two compounds as templates. Further, since both racemic and enantiospecific syntheses are important and since all eight (8) approaches (since 1992) are sufficiently different so as to warrant more tha n superficial examination, they are all considered. H HO 7 H 8 15 6 H H 6 14 N 5 CH3 H 13 NCH3 HO 14 13 9 16 9 O 16 12 15 10 O 10 4 4 11 1, R = H 2, R = CH 1 1 3 RO 3 RO 3 2 2 It is nearly two hundred years since the initial report the ubiquitous standard opium poppy or with cultivars that (1806) of the isolation of morphine (1, R = H) from the might be subsequently generated through genetic unripe seed pods of the opium poppy, Papever somniferum, manipulations so as to maximize production of these or by Friedrich Wihelm Adam Setürner [1], seventy five years related bases.
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