What was the first demonstration of organic total synthesis?
1 Answer
The first total synthesis was the Finnish chemist Gustav Komppa's total synthesis of camphor.
Explanation:
In 1903, Komppa succeeded in synthesizing camphoric acid from diethyl oxalate and diethyl β,β-dimethylglutarate.
A few years earlier, Haller and Blanc had converted camphoric acid to camphor, so this constituted a total synthesis of camphor.
At the time, camphor was a scarce natural product with a worldwide demand.
Komppa realized this and began industrial production of camphor in 1907.
For the terminally curious, here's a summary of the steps.
diethyl diketocamphorate (I)
#"KCN"#
