Cinchona Missions

The Cinchona Missions (1942–1945) were a series of expeditions led by the United States to find natural sources of quinine in South America during World War II.

[1] Although originally native to South America, cinchona plantations were established in India, Ceylon, and the Dutch East Indies during the 19th century.

[1] Recognizing the need for a new source of quinine, a program was established by the United States Board of Economic Warfare[3] under the operation of the Defense Supplies Corporation (DSC).

Eventually, it would arrive at one of the field laboratories located in Bogotá, Colombia, Quito, Ecuador, Lima, Peru, or La Paz, Bolivia.

This included Earl Lemley Core,[6] William Brooks Drew, Joseph Andorfer Ewan, Norman Carter Fassett, and Harold St.

[4] Personnel involved with the Ecuadorian missions included Wendell Holmes Camp, William Brooks Drew, Francis Marion Ownbey, Frederick Wilson Popenoe, Gerald Webber Prescott, Misael Acosta Solís, William Campbell Steere, Julian Alfred Steyermark, and Ira Loren Wiggins.

[7] After the outbreak of the war, the US government seized a plantation at El Porvenir, Guatemala and turned it into the world's largest cinchona nursery.

[7] In 1944, quinine was successfully synthesized by American chemists Robert Burns Woodward and William von Eggers Doering.