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Updated: Feb 10, 2026

Free Radicals in Chemical Biology: from Chemical Behavior to Biomarker Development
Published on: April 15, 2013
An Expedient Synthesis of Murrayaquinone A via a Novel Oxidative Free Radical Reaction
Jeffrey W McDonald1, John E Miller1, Minjee Kim1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 901 14th Street South, Birmingham, AL 35294-1240, USA.
Abstract:
Murrayaquinones A-D is a group of four bioactive carbazole-1,4-dione natural products isolated from the root bark of the plant Murraya eucrestifolia hayata. Murrayaquinone is synthesized in five steps starting from the commercially available 2,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde with an overall yield of 45%. The novelty of this murrayaquinone synthesis is in the use of a Mn(OAc)3 mediated oxidative radical reaction of a N-benzylaminoquinone derivative with 2-cyclohexen-1-one for the late-stage indole ring construction.
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