Advances of the total synthesis of morphine in the last decade

Abstract Morphine and its derivatives are widely used analgesic drugs in clinical practice. The exploration and development of morphine synthesis has always been the challenge in organic total synthesis. This paper reviews the several research and development task of total synthesis of morphine since 2010, and discusses the correlation between the yield and the reaction steps, the application of green chemistry and the feasibility of industrialization. It is concluded from the comprehensive discussion that, the synthetic route of morphine proposed by Smith in 2016 is relatively optimized. In order to realize the industrialization of total synthesis of morphine, it’s not only the yield and reaction complexity that requires to be concerned, but designing an environmentally friendly and sustainable development synthetic route also should be noticed, which also have an assignable effect.