| Abstract: | Ever since its isolation in 1820, Quinine has played a crucial role in the development of organic chemistry, chemical industry
and modern medicine. The total synthesis of quinine, widely regarded as anevent of epochal importancewas claimed by Woodward
and Doering in 1945. This work, however, heavily relied on unsubstantiated literature reports and it appears that Woodward’s
work fell short of a total synthesis of quinine. The first stereoselective total synthesis of quinine was accomplished only
in 2001, by Stork, who incidentally is the originator of the concept of stereoselectivity in total synthesis. Naturally, this
work has been attested as a landmark in organic synthesis by leaders in the field. |
