Washington, DC -- The world's largest scientific society, the American Chemical Society, will designate the research of African-American scientist Percy Lavon Julian (1899-1975) a National Historic Chemical Landmark. Julian was the first to make the anti-glaucoma drug physostigmine synthetically, a necessary step to making the drug widely available. A plaque honoring his work will be presented to DePauw University, where Julian was a research fellow, on April 23 during a celebration marking his 100th birthday.
Physostigmine promotes drainage of fluid build-up in the eye, which would otherwise lead to the optic nerve damage and loss of vision that characterizes glaucoma. Derivatives of physostigmine also show therapeutic promise for treating Alzheimer's disease and combating the effects of chemical weapons.
It took Julian and his assistant Josef Pikl three years to complete their synthesis, called the most challenging total synthesis of its time. Previously, physostigmine could only be isolated from the Calabar bean. The three-year project was completed in 1935 and reported in a series of papers in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
The discovery of how to synthesize physostigmine established Julian's reputation as a world-renowned chemist at the age of 36 yet he was denied a faculty position at DePauw because of his race. Frustrated in his efforts to gain an academic post, Julian accepted an offer as director of research for soya products for Glidden in Chicago. Over the next 18 years, the results of his soybean protein research produced numerous patents and successful products for Glidden, among them, a paper coating and a fire retardant foam used widely in WWII to extinguish gasoline fires. In the biomedical area, Julian's research made it possible to produce large quantities of synthetic progesterone and hydrocortisone at low cost.
In 1953, he established the Julian Laboratories, a successful enterprise that he
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Contact: Julie Malveaux
j_malveaux@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society
22-Apr-1999