Abstract
One thing that all research projects have in common is a beginning. For the beginning of this project, we must regress over a decade. In 1945 Papadakis synthesized for the first time 5-(p-hydroxyphenyl)-4,6-dicarbethoxycyclohexanadione-1,3, which is the parent substance of several compounds which have been prepared since then. |The original work done by Papadakis was a result of a great interest in substances resembling cardiac glycosides found in the digitalis plant. Fieser and Strain had accumulated all the work done up to that time on the structures, purification, extraction and essential functional groups of these substances. |As one would expect, the next step was to synthesize simpler compounds with the essential functional groups of the natural glycosides.