Chemistry and biology of cinchona alkaloids

Authors:

• Karol Kacprzak

Abstract

Cinchona alkaloids comprising quinine, quinidine, cinchonidine, and cinchonine as the major members constitute a unique class of quinoline alkaloids with tremendous impact on human civilization. The odyssey of Cinchona alkaloids began with the discovery of their antimalarial properties followed by the very successful application in stereochemistry and in asymmetric synthesis. Currently, the portfolio of applications of Cinchona alkaloids is much broader, involving chiral stationary phases for enantioselective chromatography, novel biological activities, and several useful transformation converting them into other modular and chiral building blocks, such as, for example, quincorine or quincoridine. Current pressure on a more intense exploration of sustainable products and easy access to diverse molecular architectures make Cinchona alkaloids of primary importance for synthetic catalytic and medicinal chemistry. The aim of this chapter, which covers almost 300 references, is to summarize all aspects of Cinchona alkaloids chemistry and biology with the special emphasis on new developments.