Progesterone from Mexican yam (Marker degradation)
Progesterona a partir del barbasco (degradación de Marker)
- Date
- 1942-1944 · confidence high
- Place
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Credited to
- Russell Marker; Syntex (Emeric Somlo, Federico Lehmann)
- People
- 👤 Russell Earl Marker1902–1995
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
Marker converted diosgenin from wild Mexican yams (cabeza de negro, barbasco) into progesterone and founded Syntex in 1944. It made steroid hormones cheaper and turned Mexico into their leading producer.
Marker was American, but the industrial process and the raw material were Mexican.
What it led to
- the Mexican steroid industry
- the synthesis of cortisone and norethisterone
- peasant harvesting of barbasco in Veracruz and Oaxaca