Synthesis of the Natural Product Berberine

Abstract

In this work, the synthesis of berberine was accomplished through three distinct routes. The key innovation lies in replacing the traditional intermediate piperonylamine with 2,3-dimethoxybenzylamine, thereby circumventing the lengthy and low-yielding steps of the intermediate. The newly developed routes are characterized by short synthetic sequences and by overall yields of 22.6–32.8% for berberine. Moreover, the starting materials are inexpensive, readily available, and derived from natural sources. Notably, in contrast to previously reported routes, route 2 can be carried out entirely at ambient temperature under atmospheric pressure. These attributes position the developed routes as candidates for industrial scale-up.