Woodward Forsees No Break In Present Cortisone Scarcity

Little hope for the large scale production of cortisone from simple starting materials within the near future was seen yesterday by Robert B. Woodward, associate professor of Chemistry, whose announcement that two teams of Harvard scientists had synthesized a chemical relative of cortisone from a common coal tar derivative created a sensation among chemists this spring.

Forty-eight steps are necessary to transform orthotoluidine, the coal-tar product, into cortisone. Less than 20 steps are required to obtain cortisone from oxbile, the raw material used in the present process.

New Starting Material

The search for another starting material began when the medical applications of the compound revealed it to be of the greatest value in the treatment of arthritis and several other diseases. The production of cortisone is currently limited by the relatively small amount of oxbile available.

Woodward's process, consisting of 30 steps, begins with ortho toluidine and ends with a compound close to cortisone. A process recently completed by Louis F. Fieser, Emery Professor of Organic Chemistry, and Hans Heymann, research fellow in Chemistry, takes four steps and adds a vital oxygen atom to the molecule.

Fourteen more steps in processes worked out by Tadeus Reichstein, a Swiss chemist, and Lewis H. Sarett of Merck & Co. lead to cortisone itself.

Landmark Advance

The artificial production of a compound naturally produced by the living body is generally hailed as a landmark in the advancement of chemistry.

Woodward said that "the availability of larger qualities of the hormone for the future is assured." However, the need to improve the process, work out engineering details, and set up the equipment needed for large-scale commercial production will of necessity postpone the appearance of artificially produced cortisone on the drug market.