in 1944 woodward and william von eggers doering reported the synthesis of the alkaloid quinine, used to treat malaria. the synthesis was a breakthrough, as quinine was hard to get from japanese occupied southeast asia. in fact, woodward's method could not be used on a practical scale, but it was a landmark for chemical synthesis. organic synthesis was still largely a matter of trial and error, and nobody thought such complex structures could actually be constructed. woodward showed that organic synthesis could be made into a science. woodward's synthesis of quinine was the first of many of his very complicated and elegant syntheses.