|
Percy Julian Recognized for His Research Synthesizing Medicinal Drugs from Natural Plants
by Owen Borville June 21, 2024 Percy Lavon Julian (1899-1975) was an American chemist who achieved great success in the effort of chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. He was the first scientist to synthesize the natural product physostigmine (for the treatment of glaucoma) from the natural Calabar bean in 1935. He was also a leader in the industrial large-scale chemical synthesis of human hormones progesterone (to help the female reproductive system) and testosterone (helps male reproductive system) from plant sterols such as stigmasterol and sitosterol. Julian's work led the development of the steroid drug industry's production of cortisone and other corticosteroids. Julian's work led to the synthesis of drugs used to treat arthritis and cancer. Julian also created his own company to synthesize steroid intermediates from the wild Mexican yam, which made them affordable and helped expand their use, particularly cortisone. Julian received more than 130 chemical patents in his career as a chemist. He was one of the first African Americans to receive a Ph.D in chemistry, and was the first African-American chemist inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, and the second African-American scientist inducted to the NAS. Julian was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1899, and earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Depauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1920, where he was the class valedictorian. He later worked as a chemistry instructor at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Then he earned a fellowship to attend the graduate program at Harvard University and earned his M.S. degree in chemistry in 1923. Julian wanted to pursue a Ph.D at Harvard, but his fellowship was taken away because the university did not want him to teach classes with white students. There was also a similar issue with other major universities not wanting him to teach classes with white students. However, he became an instructor at Howard University and later received another fellowship in 1929 to continue his graduate work at the University of Vienna in Austria, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1931. After receiving his Ph.D., he returned to Howard University to continue teaching and served as head of the chemistry department. In 1932, he accepted a teaching position at Depauw University and continued research on drug synthesis. At Depauw, Julian was able to synthesize the drug physostigmine, for treatment of glaucoma, and received international fame for his work. Julian left academia in 1935 to work in the private sector. Julian worked in private industry at a position with the Glidden Company in 1936, which supplied soybean oil products. Julian also worked in the production of soybean proteins. His work at Glidden led to the creation of safer paint products, which helped save many human lives. He continued work with soybeans to develop male and female hormones for improving reproduction, preventing miscarriages, and fighting cancer. His synthetic version of cortisone helped relieve pain in rheumatoid arthritis sufferers and became available at an affordable price. In 1940, Julian began working on synthesizing steroid chemicals from plant sterols. In 1953, Julian left Glidden and created his own company, Julian Laboratories. He discovered that wild yams in Mexico were more effective than soybeans for some of his products, and he helped develop a major pharmaceutical industry using these yams. Toward the end of his life, Julian finally received major recognition for his work by being given awards and medals from prestigious organizations, many honorary degrees, selected to serve as a trustee several different universities in his career in which he authored more than 160 publications. https://www.depauw.edu/julian/biography/ https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/julian.html#:~:text=In%201935%2C%20in%20Minshall%20Laboratory,for%20the%20treatment%20of%20glaucoma. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Lavon_Julian |
|