THE CHEMISTRY OF SOME PHYSIOLOGICALLY IMPORTANT SUBSTANCES RELATED TO PHENANTHRENE
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
Until 1932 interest in the chemistry of phenanthrene was confined largely to two groups of investigators, those interested in the opium alkaloid problem and those chemists whose interest in phenanthrene arose from possible industrial uses of the hydrocarbon in the preparation of dye-stuffs. To these two groups a third may possibly be added, namely, those engaged in unravelling the structure of the resin acids, the carbon skeleton of which had at this time been recognized as embracing a phenanthrene nucleus. In 1932 an event occurred which resulted in initiating a stream of research on phenanthrene and its derivatives which has scarcely been equaled in the history of organic chemistry. This event was the publication of the speculations of Rosenheim and King which for the first time indicated that the phenanthrene nucleus was present in the substances comprising what has come to be known as the “sterol or cholane” group.
