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Can chemical synthesis help address issues related to the supply of therapeutically significant alkaloids in the era of sustainability?

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Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 26. November 2025
Pure and Applied Chemistry
Aus der Zeitschrift Pure and Applied Chemistry

Abstract

A number of plant-derived alkaloids are deployed clinically for treating a range of ailments. Notable examples include morphine, codeine, galanthamine and colchicine. While the opium poppy-derived morphinan alkaloids are amongst the most widely prescribed drugs worldwide, today there remains a significant shortfall in legal access to these critical pain-relieving medicines for more than half of the world’s population. Exacerbating this disturbing situation are the impacts of climate change, habitat loss and the possibilities of crop losses (and even extinction) through disease (most particularly fungal infections), all of which threaten the supply chains for these crucial medicines. Herein we outline work undertaken within our laboratories that attempts to address the above-mentioned challenges through the development of concise, time-efficient, atom-economical and sustainably-oriented total syntheses of these clinically-deployed alkaloids. A necessary adjunct to such activities has been the need to develop new, potentially highly scalable and biomass-derived platform molecules, especially nitrogen-containing ones for which there are few examples at the present time.

Keywords: Alkaloid synthesis; atom economy; chemistry of natural products; cross-coupling reactions; cyclizations; enantioselectivity; hydroamination
Corresponding author: Martin G. Banwell, Institute for Advanced and Applied Chemical Synthesis, Jinan University, Zhuhai, China, e-mail:
This paper is based on an invited talk given by MGB at the joint ISCNP-32 and ICOB-12 meeting held in Sydney on August 26th, 2025. Article note: A collection of invited papers based on presentations at the 32nd International Symposium on the Chemistry of Natural Products (ISCNP-32), held on 24–28 August 2025 in Sydney, Australia.

  1. Research ethics: All relevant ethical requirements associated with the work reported in this submission have been followed.

  2. Informed consent: All the authors of the submission have agreed to it being sent to Pure and Applied Chemistry for publication.

  3. Author contributions: SX and YZ helped draft the manuscript and undertook certain relevant experiments reported therein. PL, LVW and MGB were all responsible for the conceptual developments reported in the submission as well as the finalization of the final (submitted) version.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: No such tools have been used in the preparation of this article.

  5. Conflict of interest: There are no conflicts of interest.

  6. Research funding: Nil.

  7. Data availability: All relevant data are available through the cited publications.

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Received: 2025-09-20
Accepted: 2025-10-27
Published Online: 2025-11-26

© 2025 IUPAC & De Gruyter

https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2025-0619
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
Alkaloid synthesis; atom economy; chemistry of natural products; cross-coupling reactions; cyclizations; enantioselectivity; hydroamination
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