C. R. Alder Wright synthesizes diamorphine (1874)

English chemist C. R. Alder Wright synthesized diamorphine in 1874 at St Mary's Hospital, London. He boiled anhydrous morphine alkaloid with acetic anhydride to produce a more potent, acetylated form of morphine. This invention did not lead to immediate developments, as the substance became popular only after being independently re-synthesized 23 years later by Felix Hoffmann.

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Background and detail

Background. Charles Romley Alder Wright was an English lecturer in chemistry and physics at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He was appointed as a researcher in 1871. Wright developed hundreds of new opiate compounds, including the first synthesis of diamorphine, also known as diacetylmorphine or heroin, in 1874.

Synthesis. Wright synthesized diamorphine by boiling anhydrous morphine alkaloid with acetic anhydride over a stove for several hours. This process produced a more potent, acetylated form of morphine. The resulting substance is now called diamorphine or diacetylmorphine, commonly known as heroin.

Legacy. Wright's invention did not lead to any further developments at the time. Diamorphine became popular only after it was independently re-synthesized 23 years later by chemist Felix Hoffmann. Wright died in 1894, and Heinrich Dreser continued to test heroin at Bayer Laboratories.

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