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Addition of two mol equivalents of t-butyl alcohol to a mixture of powdered arsenic and three mol equivalents of lithium in liquid ammonia gives a suspension of lithium arsenide LiAsH2. Subsequent addition of a large excess of t-butyl alcohol and n-octyl iodide at very low temperatures affords n-octyl arsine in -65% yield.

A method to determine the content of the juvenile hormones in insects as low as 0.2 nanogram per sample was developed. The juvenile hormones were transformed in their 10-hepta-' fluorobutyrate-11-methoxy-derivatives and simultaneously determined by capillary gas chromatography with electron capture detection.

Two non-alkaloidal constituents were identified in Papaver bracteatum: O-methyl-α-thebaol and 10-n-nonacosanol. O-Methyl-α-thebaol is a new natural compound. The presence of isothebaine is confirmed. Lanthanide-induced chemical shifts can be used for the assignments of the 13C NMR chemical shifts of isothebaine and phenanthrenes. The use of lanthanide-induced chemical shifts in the identification of methoxyl resonances in 1H NMR is discussed.

The leaves of Prunus serotina and P. lusitanica contain a new triterpene, 2α,3α-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid, isolated in form of its methyl ester. Other triterpenes present in these species are ursolic acid and ursol aldehyde. P. lusitanica also yields friedeline.

13C NMR chemical shifts are assigned for some quaternary morphinan derivatives, including the ‘minor isomer’ of the thebaine N-oxides. In quaternary morphinan alkaloids having an 8.14-double bond, electric field effects cause unusual 13C NMR shifts.

From Papaver bracteatum an unusual alkaloid is isolated: 6,7,8,9,10,14-hexadehydro-4,5-epoxy-3,6-di-methoxy-17-methylthebinan (1). This alkaloid is also obtained from the mixture of rearrangement products of one of the thebaine N-oxides. The structure of another constituent of the latter mixture is deduced to be 6,7,8,9,10,14-hexadehydro-3,6-dimethoxythebinan-4-ol (15). The presence of both thebaine N-oxides in Papaver bracteatum is confirmed, and their structures are revised on chemical and spectroscopic grounds.