An antiturnour morphinane alkaloid sinococuline 1 is synthesised from sinomenine 2 in an efficient manner. ... Sinococuline 1 is a morphinane alkaloid isolated from the roots of the plant Coccufus trifobusl and shows promising antitumour activity against animal tumour models. However, the quantity of 1 in the plant is variable and its high polar and noncrystallizable property makes isolatiordpurification diffi- cult. These difficulties have hampered further preclinical studies of 1 as an ...