Who is Percy Julian and what is he known for?
A steroid chemist and an entrepreneur, Percy Julian ingeniously figured out how to synthesize important medicinal compounds from abundant plant sources, making them more affordable to mass-produce. In the 1930s chemists recognized the structural similarity of a large group of natural substances—the steroids.
What is an interesting fact about Percy Lavon Julian?
Percy Lavon Julian (April 11, 1899 to April 19, 1975) was an American research chemist. He was a pioneer in the industrial scale chemical synthesis of progesterone and testosterone from plant sterols. He was the first African-American chemist to become a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Who was Percy Lavon Julian and what did he do?
Percy Lavon Julian (April 11, 1899 – April 19, 1975) was an American research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants.
What did Percy Lavon Julian invent for arthritis?
Cortisone is often used as a pain reliever for patients with arthritis. Percy Julian could synthesize this from the soybean. In fact, Julian could make this product more affordable with a price of a few cents a gram, while the leading brand of cortisone was one hundred dollars a drop.
When did Percy Lavon Julian invent cortisone?
Cortisone and Hydrocortisone In 1948 scientists at the Mayo Clinic announced their landmark discovery of cortisone, which had remarkable effects on rheumatoid arthritis, and Julian jumped into the exciting competition to synthesize cortisone inexpensively (see also Carl Djerassi). Cortisone is a cortical hormone of the adrenal gland.
What did Percy Lavon Julian do with stigmasterol?
German chemists discovered that the steroid stigmasterol, which Julian had obtained as a by-product of the physostigmine synthesis but was also obtainable from soybeans, could be used in the synthesis of certain sex hormones, including progesterone, a female sex hormone that was important in helping pregnant women avoid miscarriages.