Total synthesis of vitamin B12
Síntesis total de la vitamina B12
- Date
- 1972 · confidence high
- Place
- Harvard (Cambridge, MA) and ETH Zurich
- Credited to
- Robert B. Woodward and Albert Eschenmoser (collaboration of more than 100 chemists)
- People
- 👤 Albert Eschenmoser1925–2023👤 Robert Burns Woodward1917–1979
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
After eleven years and around 100 steps, two groups complete the synthesis of the most complex non-polymeric natural molecule known at the time. It demonstrated both the limits and the power of organic synthesis and gave rise to the Woodward-Hoffmann rules.
What it led to
- Synthesis of complex natural products
- Bioorganic chemistry
- Synthesis of Taxol and other drugs
Built on
- Discovery and isolation of vitamin B121926-1956
- Woodward-Hoffmann rules1965
- crystallographic structure of B12 (Hodgkin, 1956)
Made possible
- Woodward-Hoffmann rules1965
- macrocyclisation methodologies