Editor's Summary
28 February 2008
Final chapter
The report by Robert Woodward and William Doering of the total synthesis of quinine in 1944 caused a sensation: it was hoped that the process could be scaled up as part of the battle against malaria. But it was the start of a long-running controversy over what they — and a 1918 paper that they referenced — had really achieved. As Philip Ball reports in News and Views, a paper just published in Angewandte Chemie has validated the 1918 work — and therefore Woodward and Doering's too — once and perhaps for all.
News and Views: History of science: Quinine steps back in time
Chemists have long memories. The claim, dating back to 1918, that a crucial step in a synthesis of quinine had been carried out has been validated experimentally, closing a chapter in this fascinating story.
Philip Ball
doi:10.1038/4511065a