Enantioselective synthesis of (-)-dihydrocodeinone: a short formal synthesis of (-)-morphine.

[reaction: see text] The radical cyclization approach to the morphine alkaloids has been applied in an asymmetric synthesis of (-)-dihydrocodeinone. A chiral cyclohexenol (R-32), from the CBS reduction of the enone, is the source of chirality. The first key step, tandem closure in which stereochemistry is controlled by geometric constraints, (-)-15b --> (+)-16, was followed by an unprecedented reductive hydroamination, completing the synthesis of (-)-dihydroisocodeine ((-)-17) in 13 steps from commercially available materials.