Abstract
Dichapetalum toxicarium (Chailletia toxicaria, Don). a shrub occurring in Sierra Leone, produces a hard and woody fruit which is extremely toxic to warm-blooded animals. The pharmacological, medical, and historical aspects of this plant have recently been reviewed1. Peters and colleagues have concluded2, on the basis of nuclear magnetic resonance, infra-red spectroscopy and ozonolysis, that the toxic principle is 18-fluoro-cis-9-octadecenoic acid (ω-fluoro-oleic acid), F(CH2)8CH=CH(CH2)7COOH. It was in order to confirm this conclusion that the following synthesis of ω-fluoro-oleic acid was undertaken: 
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References
Pattison, F. L. M., Toxic Aliphatic Fluorine Compounds, 83 (Elsevier Pub. Co., Amsterdam, 1959).
Peters, R. A., Hall, R. J., Ward, P. F. V., and Sheppard, N., Biochem. J., 77, 17 (1960).
Pattison, F. L. M., and Howell, W. C., J. Org. Chem., 21, 748 (1956).
Pattison, F. L. M., and Norman, J. J., J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 79, 2311 (1957).
Pattison, F. L. M., Stothers, J. B., and Woolford, R. G., J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 78, 2255 (1956).
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PATTISON, F., DEAR, R. Synthesis of the Toxic Principle of Dichapetalum toxicarium (18-Fluoro-cis-9-Octadecenoic Acid). Nature 192, 1284–1285 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/1921284a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1921284a0
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