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This unassuming weed is currently the source for of the anticancer drug ingenol © Floral Images/Alamy
US scientists have developed the first efficient and scalable route for the total synthesis of ingenol – a plant-derived diterpenoid used to treat precancerous skin legions. The work offers cheaper and faster production of the drug than the current, inefficient plant extraction route, and could pave the way for the chemical synthesis of many other complex natural compounds.
read all at
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/08/total-synthesis-outshines-biotech-anticancer-drug-ingenol
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