Rabe, Paul

Woodward was always attracted to molecules with novel structures or interesting biological activities. He attacked the synthesis of steroids during his years at MIT, and with American chemist Bill Doering in 1944, he published the paper that described the fulfillment of his boyhood dreams the synthesis of quinine. What Woodward and Doering actually reported was the twenty-step synthesis of a qtiinotoxine, a molecule whose conversion into quinine had been reported by the German chemist Paul Rabe in 1918. Rabe s reported synthesis of quinine was later discredited, but that in no way diminished the impact of Woodward s beautifully planned synthesis of quinotoxine. 

The chemical synthesis of quinine remained a major goal and therein lies an interesting story. A German chemist named Paul Rabe (1869-1952) had claimed, in 1918, to have chemically converted a degradation produa of quinine, called quinotoxine, back into quinine. His notes were very sketchy... 

Pomeranz, Y. (Ed.) Wheat Chemistry and technology. Volumes I and II. American Association of Ceretil Chemists St. Paul, Minn. 1988 Pomeranz, Y Wheat is unique. American Association of Cereal Chemists St. Paul. Minn. 1989 Rabe, E. Oiganische Sauren in unterschiedUch gefUhrten Broten. Getreide Mehl Brot 34,90 (1980) Raunum, R Potassium bromate in bread making. Cereal Foods World 37, 253 (1992)... 

It s a footnote to history that Doering and Woodward knew, or thought they knew, that someone eke, Paul Rabe, had already shown in the early years of the twentieth century how to achieve the final step, so they thought it wasn t necessary to go that far themselves. Controversy raged for a long time about whether the earlier work was valid if it wasn t, then Doering and Woodward s synthesis wouldn t have been complete. In the end, as recently as 2008, it was shown that the original work done nearly a century earlier was indeed valid. 

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