Abstract
| - N-Demethylation is a key step in the preparation of a number of semisynthetic opiate pharmaceuticals.Herein we report a high-yielding, catalytic procedure for the N-demethylation of opiates which has anumber of advantages over existing methods. For example, tetrasodium 5,10,15,20-tetra(4-sulfophenyl)porphyrinatoiron(II) (0.3 molar equiv) effected the transformation of codeine methyl ether to thecorresponding N-nor analogue in 91% yield. The catalyst was readily removed and recycled.
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