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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.[1] Julian was the first person to synthesize the natural product physostigmine, and a pioneer in industrial large-scale chemical synthesis of the human hormones progesterone and testosterone from plant sterols such as stigmasterol and sitosterol. His work laid the foundation for the steroid drug industry's production of cortisone, other corticosteroids, and artificial hormones that led to birth control pills.[2][3][4]

Key Information

Julian started his own company to synthesize steroid intermediates from wild Mexican yams. His work helped to greatly reduce the cost of steroid intermediates to large multinational pharmaceutical companies. This significantly expanded the use of several important drugs, including synthetic cortisone.[5][6]

Julian was one of the first African Americans to be allowed to earn a doctorate in chemistry. He was the first African-American chemist inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, and the second African-American scientist, after David Blackwell, inducted into the organization from any field.[5] Throughout his career, Julian received over 130 patents.[7]

Early life and family

[edit]

Percy Lavon Julian was born on April 11, 1899, in Montgomery, Alabama,[8] as the first child of six born to James Sumner Julian and Elizabeth Lena Adams Julian. Both of his parents were graduates of what was to be Alabama State University. His father, James was employed as a clerk in the Railway Service of the United States Post Office, and his mother Elizabeth was a schoolteacher.[9][10]

Education and academic career

[edit]

At a time when access to an education beyond the eighth grade was extremely rare for African Americans, Julian's parents steered all of their children toward higher education. Julian attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. The college accepted few African-American students. The segregated nature of the town subjected him to social humiliations. He was not allowed to live in a college dormitory and first stayed in an off-campus boarding home, which refused to serve him meals. It took him days before he found an establishment where he could eat. He later found work firing the furnace, waiting tables, and doing other odd jobs in a fraternity house; in return, he was allowed to sleep in the attic and eat at the house. Julian graduated from DePauw in 1920 as a Phi Beta Kappa and valedictorian.[11]

By 1930, his father had moved the family to Greencastle so that all his children could attend DePauw. He still worked as a railroad postal clerk.[12] James owned his own home, valued at $3,000 (approximately $56,000 today).[citation needed]

After graduating from DePauw, Julian wanted to obtain his doctorate in chemistry, but learned it would be difficult for an African American to do so. Instead, he obtained a position as a chemistry instructor at Fisk University. In 1923 he received an Austin Fellowship in Chemistry, which allowed him to attend Harvard University to obtain his M.S. However, worried that white students would resent being taught by an African American, Harvard withdrew Julian's teaching assistantship, making it impossible for him to complete his Ph.D. there.

In 1929, while an instructor at Howard University, Julian received a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship to continue his graduate work at the University of Vienna, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1931. He studied under Ernst Späth and was considered an impressive student. Europe gave him freedom from the racial prejudices that had stifled him in the States. He freely participated in intellectual social gatherings, attended the opera, and found greater acceptance among his peers.[13][14] Julian was one of the first African Americans to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry, after St. Elmo Brady and Edward M.A. Chandler.[5][15]

After returning from Vienna, Julian taught for one year at Howard University. At Howard, in part due to his position as a department head, Julian became caught up in university politics, setting off a chain of scandals. At university president Mordecai Wyatt Johnson's request,[16] he goaded white professor of chemistry Jacob Shohan (Ph.D., Harvard[17]), into resigning.[18][19] In late May 1932, Shohan retaliated by releasing to the local African-American newspaper the letters Julian had written to him from Vienna. The letters described "a variety of subjects from wine, pretty Viennese women, music and dances, to chemical experiments and plans for the new chemical building."[18] In the letters, he spoke with familiarity, and some derision, of members of the Howard University faculty, calling one well-known dean an "ass (also known as a donkey)".[18][20]

Around this same time, Julian also became entangled in an interpersonal conflict with his laboratory assistant, Robert Thompson. Julian had recommended Thompson for dismissal in March 1932.[21] Thompson sued Julian for "alienating the affections of his wife",[18] Anna Roselle Thompson, stating he had seen them together in a sexual tryst. Julian counter-sued him for libel. When Thompson was fired, he too gave the paper intimate and personal letters which Julian had written to him from Vienna. Julian's letters revealed "how he fooled the [Howard] president into accepting his plans for the chemistry building"[20] and "how he bluffed his good friend into appointing" a professor of Julian's liking.[20] Through the summer of 1932, the Baltimore Afro-American published all of Julian's letters. Eventually, the scandal and accompanying pressure forced Julian to resign.[5]

On December 24, 1935, he married Anna Roselle (Ph.D. in sociology, 1937, University of Pennsylvania). They had two children: Percy Lavon Julian Jr. (August 31, 1940 – February 24, 2008), who became a noted civil rights lawyer in Madison, Wisconsin;[22] and Faith Roselle Julian (born 1944), who still resides in their Oak Park home and often makes inspirational speeches about her father and his contributions to science.[23]

At the lowest point in Julian's career, his former mentor, William Martin Blanchard, a professor of chemistry at DePauw, threw him a much-needed lifeline. Blanchard offered Julian a position to teach organic chemistry at DePauw in 1932. Julian then helped Josef Pikl, a fellow student at the University of Vienna, to come to the United States to work with him at DePauw. In 1935, Julian and Pikl completed the total synthesis of physostigmine and confirmed the structural formula assigned to it. Robert Robinson of Oxford University in the U.K. had been the first to publish a synthesis of physostigmine, but Julian noticed that the quoted melting point of Robinson's end product was incorrect, indicating that he had not created it. When Julian completed his synthesis, the melting point matched the correct one for natural physostigmine from the calabar bean.[5]

Julian also extracted stigmasterol, which took its name from Physostigma venenosum, the west African calabar bean that he hoped could serve as raw material for the synthesis of human steroidal hormones. At about this time, in 1934, Butenandt and Fernholz, in Germany,[24][25] had shown that stigmasterol, isolated from soybean oil, could be converted to progesterone by synthetic organic chemistry.

Private sector work: Glidden

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Hiring

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In 1936 Julian was denied a professorship at DePauw for racial reasons. DuPont offered a job to Pikl, but declined to hire Julian, despite his superlative qualifications as an organic chemist, apologizing that they were "unaware he was black".[11] Julian next applied for a job at the Institute of Paper Chemistry in Appleton, Wisconsin. However, Appleton was a sundown town, forbidding African Americans from staying overnight, explicitly stating "No Negro should be a bed or boarded overnight in Appleton."[26]

Meanwhile, Julian had written to the Glidden Company, a supplier of soybean oil products, to request a five-gallon sample of the oil to use as his starting point for the synthesis of human steroidal sex hormones (in part because his wife was experiencing infertility).[citation needed] After receiving the request, W. J. O'Brien, a vice-president at Glidden, telephoned Julian, offering him the position of director of research at Glidden's Soya Products Division in Chicago. He was very likely offered the job by O'Brien because he was fluent in German, and Glidden had just purchased a modern continuous countercurrent solvent extraction plant from Germany for the extraction of vegetable oil from soybeans for paints and other uses.[5]

Soy protein

[edit]

Julian supervised the assembly of the plant at Glidden when he arrived in 1936. He then designed and supervised the construction of the world's first plant for the production of industrial-grade, isolated soy protein from oil-free soybean meal. Isolated soy protein could replace the more expensive milk casein in industrial applications such as coating and sizing of paper, glue for making Douglas fir plywood, and in the manufacture of water-based paints.

At the start of World War II, Glidden sent a sample of Julian's isolated soy protein to National Foam System Inc. (today a unit of Kidde Fire Fighting), which used it to develop Aer-O-Foam,[27][28] the U.S. Navy's firefighting "bean soup." While it was not exactly Julian's brainchild, his meticulous care in the preparation of the soy protein made the firefighting foam possible. When a hydrolyzate of isolated soy protein was fed into a water stream, the mixture was converted into a foam by means of an aerating nozzle. The soy protein foam was used to smother oil and gasoline fires aboard ships and was particularly useful on aircraft carriers. It has saved the lives of thousands of sailors and airmen.[28] Citing this achievement, in 1947 the NAACP awarded Julian the Spingarn Medal, its highest honor.

The 1943 United States Office of War Information film Food for Fighters features Julian as the soy expert when describing the inclusion of soy to boost the nutrition of K-rations.[29]

Steroids

[edit]

Percy's research at Glidden changed direction in 1940 when he began work on synthesizing progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone from the plant sterols stigmasterol and sitosterol, isolated from soybean oil by a foam technique he invented and patented.[2][30] At that time, clinicians were discovering many uses for the newly discovered hormones. However, only minute quantities could be extracted from hundreds of pounds of animal spinal cords.

In 1940, Julian was able to produce 100 pounds (45 kg) of mixed soy sterols daily, which had a value of $10,000 ($105,000 today)[31] as sex hormones. Julian was soon ozonizing 100 pounds (45 kg) daily of mixed sterol dibromides. The soy stigmasterol was easily converted into commercial quantities of the female hormone progesterone, and the first pound of progesterone that he produced, valued at $63,500 ($668,000 today),[31] was shipped to buyer Upjohn[32] in an armored car.[4] Production of other sex hormones soon followed.[33]

His work made possible the production of these hormones on a larger industrial scale, with the potential of reducing the cost of treating hormonal deficiencies. Julian and his co-workers obtained patents for Glidden on key processes for the preparation of progesterone and testosterone from soybean plant sterols. Product patents held by a former cartel of European pharmaceutical companies had prevented a significant reduction in wholesale and retail prices for clinical use of these hormones in the 1940s. He saved many lives with this discovery.[34][35][36]

On April 13, 1949, rheumatologist Philip Hench at the Mayo Clinic announced the dramatic effectiveness of cortisone in treating rheumatoid arthritis. The cortisone was produced by Merck at great expense using a complex 36-step synthesis developed by chemist Lewis Sarett, starting with deoxycholic acid from cattle bile acids. On September 30, 1949, Julian announced an improved process for producing cortisone.[37][38][39][40] This eliminated the use of osmium tetroxide, which was rare and expensive.[37] By 1950, Glidden could begin producing closely related compounds which might have partial cortisone activity. Julian also announced the synthesis, starting with the cheap and readily available pregnenolone (synthesized from the soybean oil sterol stigmasterol) of the steroid cortexolone (also known as Reichstein's Substance S, and most often referred as 11-Deoxycortisol[41]), a molecule that differed from cortisone by a single missing oxygen atom; and possibly 17α-hydroxyprogesterone and pregnenetriolone, which he hoped might also be effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis,[37][38][39][40][42] but unfortunately they were not.[40]

On April 5, 1952, biochemist Durey Peterson and microbiologist Herbert Murray at Upjohn published the first report of a fermentation process for the microbial 11α-oxygenation of steroids in a single step (by common molds of the order Mucorales). Their fermentation process could produce 11α-hydroxyprogesterone or 11α-hydrocortisone from progesterone or Compound S, respectively, which could then by further chemical steps be converted to cortisone or 11β-hydrocortisone (cortisol).[43]

After two years, Glidden abandoned production of cortisone to concentrate on Substance S. Julian developed a multistep process for conversion of pregnenolone, available in abundance from soybean oil sterols, to cortexolone. In 1952, Glidden, which had been producing progesterone and other steroids from soybean oil, shut down its own production and began importing them from Mexico through an arrangement with Diosynth (a small Mexican company founded in 1947 by Russell Marker after leaving Syntex). Glidden's cost of production of cortexolone was relatively high, so Upjohn decided to use progesterone, available in large quantity at low cost from Syntex, to produce cortisone and hydrocortisone.[40]

In 1953, Glidden decided to leave the steroid business, which had been relatively unprofitable over the years despite Julian's innovative work.[44] On December 1, 1953, Julian left Glidden after 18 years, giving up a salary of nearly $50,000 a year (equivalent to $590,000 in 2024)[31] to found his own company, Julian Laboratories, Inc., taking over the small, concrete-block building of Suburban Chemical Company in Franklin Park, Illinois.[45][46][47]

On December 2, 1953, Pfizer acquired exclusive licenses of Glidden patents for the synthesis of Substance S. Pfizer had developed a fermentation process for microbial 11β-oxygenation of steroids in a single step that could convert Substance S directly to 11β-hydrocortisone (cortisol), with Syntex undertaking large-scale production of cortexolone at very low cost.[40]

Oak Park and Julian Laboratories

[edit]

Around 1950, Julian moved his family to the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, becoming the first African-American family to reside there.[48] Although some residents welcomed them, there was also opposition. Before they moved in, on Thanksgiving Day, 1950, their home was firebombed. Later, after they moved in, the house was attacked with dynamite on June 12, 1951. The attacks galvanized the community, and a community group was formed to support the Julians.[49] Julian's son later recounted that during these times, he and his father often kept watch over the family's property by sitting on the front porch with a shotgun.[5]

Julian's new research firm, Julian Laboratories, Inc., hired many of his best chemists, including African-Americans and women, from Glidden. He won a contract to provide Upjohn with $2 million worth of progesterone (equivalent to $21 million today).[31] To compete against Syntex, he would have to use the same Mexican yam, obtained from the Mexican barbasco trade, as his starting material. Julian used his own money and borrowed from friends to build a processing plant in Mexico, but he could not get a permit from the government to harvest the yams. Abraham Zlotnik, a former Jewish University of Vienna classmate whom Julian had helped escape from the Holocaust, led a search to find a new yam source in Guatemala for the company.

In July 1956, Julian and executives of two other American companies trying to enter the Mexican steroid intermediates market appeared before a U.S. Senate subcommittee. They testified that Syntex was using undue influence to monopolize access to the Mexican yam.[36][50] The hearings resulted in Syntex signing a consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department. While it did not admit to restraining trade, it promised not to do so in the future.[36] Within five years, large American multinational pharmaceutical companies had acquired all six producers of steroid intermediates in Mexico, four of which had been Mexican-owned.[36]

Syntex reduced the cost of steroid intermediates more than 250-fold over twelve years, from $80 per gram in 1943 to $0.31 per gram in 1955.[36][50] Competition from Upjohn and General Mills, which had together made very substantial improvements in the production of progesterone from stigmasterol, forced the price of Mexican progesterone down to less than $0.15 per gram in 1957. The price continued to fall, bottoming out at $0.08 per gram in 1968.[36][40]

In 1958, Upjohn purchased 6,900 kg of progesterone from Syntex at $0.135 per gram, 6,201 kg of progesterone from Searle (who had acquired Pesa) at $0.143 per gram, 5,150 kg of progesterone from Julian Laboratories at $0.14 per gram, and 1,925 kg of progesterone from General Mills (who had acquired Protex) at $0.142 per gram.[51]

Despite continually falling bulk prices of steroid intermediates, an oligopoly of large American multinational pharmaceutical companies kept the wholesale prices of corticosteroid drugs fixed and unchanged into the 1960s. Cortisone was fixed at $5.48 per gram from 1954, hydrocortisone at $7.99 per gram from 1954, and prednisone at $35.80 per gram from 1956.[36][51] Merck and Roussel Uclaf concentrated on improving the production of corticosteroids from cattle bile acids. In 1960 Roussel produced almost one-third of the world's corticosteroids from bile acids.[40]

Julian Laboratories chemists found a way to quadruple the yield on a product on which they were barely breaking even. Julian reduced their price per kg for the product from $4,000 to $400.[5] He sold the company in 1961 for $2.3 million (equivalent to $24 million today) and became one of the first black millionaires.[31] The U.S. and Mexico facilities were purchased by Smith Kline, and Julian's chemical plant in Guatemala was purchased by Upjohn.

In 1964, Julian founded Julian Associates and Julian Research Institute, which he managed for the rest of his life.[52] Julian also helped to found the Legal Defense and Educational Fund of Chicago.[53]

Julian died of liver cancer in Waukegan, Illinois on April 19, 1975, a week after his 76th birthday.[54]

Honors and legacy

[edit]

Nova documentary

[edit]

Ruben Santiago-Hudson portrayed Percy Julian in the Public Broadcasting Service Nova documentary about his life, called "Forgotten Genius". It was presented on the PBS network on February 6, 2007, sponsored by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation with further funding by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Approximately sixty of Julian's family members, friends, and work associates were interviewed for the docudrama.[5][70]

Production on the biopic began in May 2002 at DePauw University's Greencastle campus, where Julian's bust is on display in the atrium of the Percy Lavon Julian Science and Mathematics Center. The completion and broadcast of the documentary was delayed while Nova commissioned and published a companion book on Julian's life.[71]

According to University of Illinois historian James Anderson in the film, "His story is a story of great accomplishment, of heroic efforts and overcoming tremendous odds...a story about who we are and what we stand for and the challenges that have been there and the challenges that are still with us."[70]

Archive

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The Percy Lavon Julian family papers are archived at DePauw University.[72]

Patents

[edit]

Publications

[edit]
  • On the Progenitors of Certain Plant Alkaloids and the Mechanism of their Formation in the Plant Structure; Percy L. Julian. Proc. Indiana Acad. Sci. 1933, 43, pp 122–126.
  • Studies in the Indole Series. I. The Synthesis of Alpha-Benzylindoles; Percy L. Julian, Josef Pikl; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1933, 55(5), pp 2105–2110. doi:10.1021/ja01332a054
  • Studies in the Indole Series. V. The Complete Synthesis of Physostigmine (Eserine); Percy L. Julian, Josef Pikl; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1935, 57(4), pp 755–757. doi:10.1021/ja01307a051
  • Studies in the Indole Series VII. The Course of the Fischer Reaction with Ketones of the Type R CH2 CO CH3. Alpha-Propyl and Alpha-Homoveratryl Indole; Percy L Julian, Josef Pikl; Proc. Indiana Acad. Sci. 1935, 45, pp 145–150.

See also

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References

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Further reading

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Percy Lavon Julian

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from Grokipedia
Percy Lavon Julian (April 11, 1899 – April 19, 1975) was an American chemist and who pioneered the industrial synthesis of pharmaceuticals from sterols, including for and cortisone derivatives for . His innovations enabled of these drugs at lower costs, transforming treatments previously limited by scarce natural sources. Born in , as the grandson of enslaved people, Julian graduated from in 1920 with a chemistry degree, earned a master's from Harvard in 1923, and obtained his PhD from the in 1931 amid barriers to advanced study in the United States. Despite and exclusion from many academic roles, he advanced through teaching positions at Black colleges like Fisk and West Virginia State, then returned to DePauw where, in 1935, he and Josef Pikl achieved the first of from basic precursors. Julian's later industrial work focused on soybean phospholipids and sterols, yielding efficient processes for progesterone and , with over 130 patents reflecting his contributions to steroid chemistry. He founded Julian Laboratories in 1953, expanding research until health issues prompted its sale, and in 1973 became the first African American elected to the for his empirical advancements in .

Early Life and Family Background

Childhood and Upbringing in Montgomery

Percy Lavon Julian was born on April 11, 1899, in , as the first of six children to James Sumner Julian, a railway mail clerk for the , and Elizabeth Lena Adams Julian, a public school teacher. His grandparents had been enslaved, positioning his early life within a family lineage marked by the legacies of and post-emancipation struggles. Raised in the Jim Crow South, where segregation laws rigidly enforced racial divisions in education, transportation, and daily life, Julian attended segregated public schools in Montgomery that offered limited resources and terminated formal instruction after the for most African American students. His parents emphasized intellectual discipline and self-improvement despite pervasive socioeconomic barriers and discriminatory policies that curtailed opportunities for Black youth, fostering an environment that nurtured his nascent aptitude for mathematics—influenced by his father's affinity for the subject—and a budding interest in natural sciences through observation of the local environment. These formative constraints, coupled with familial encouragement, honed Julian's resilience and self-directed curiosity, shaping his trajectory amid an era of systemic exclusion.

Family Influences and Initial Aspirations

Percy Lavon Julian was born on April 11, 1899, in , as the eldest of six children to James Sumner Julian, a railway mail clerk whose federal government position offered modest financial stability amid widespread poverty for Black families in the Jim Crow South, and Elizabeth Lena Adams Julian, a schoolteacher who prioritized and discipline in the household. The family's emphasis on learning extended to all siblings, each of whom later graduated from , with two younger brothers becoming physicians and three sisters earning master's degrees, fostering an environment of intellectual ambition and self-improvement without reliance on external privileges. From an early age, Julian displayed an innate curiosity in science, conducting informal experiments as a child that highlighted his resourcefulness and independent ingenuity, often using readily available materials rather than institutional resources. His father's affinity for further reinforced a logical, problem-solving mindset, while the modest family circumstances necessitated self-reliance, as Julian took on odd jobs such as waiting tables and digging ditches to surmount financial barriers to his education. These influences shaped Julian's initial aspirations toward chemistry as a means to tackle real-world challenges through empirical discovery, particularly deriving practical solutions from natural sources like plants, reflecting a drive rooted in personal determination rather than affirmative aid or societal favoritism. This early foundation of familial stability, educational rigor, and hands-on experimentation propelled him toward higher pursuits, underscoring a trajectory built on individual merit amid systemic obstacles.

Educational Attainments

Undergraduate Studies at

Julian entered in , in 1916 at age 17 as a sub-freshman, a status requiring additional preparatory coursework alongside standard freshman requirements due to his rural high school background. He pursued a degree in chemistry, supported by financial aid that enabled his attendance despite his family's limited means as a railway postal clerk's son. As the sole African American student at DePauw during his tenure, Julian encountered pronounced , including residence in a converted space rather than standard dormitories and solitary meals in the campus kitchen to avoid shared dining with white peers. Undeterred by these barriers, he emphasized merit-based achievement, excelling particularly in quantitative chemical analysis through meticulous laboratory precision and graduating in 1920 as class valedictorian with honors. In undergraduate laboratories, Julian engaged in hands-on work with organic compounds, honing skills in synthesis and that foreshadowed his later focus on complex molecular structures. His senior thesis examined colored substances derived from , involving empirical investigations into their chemical properties and isolation techniques, which cultivated his interest in alkaloid-related through rigorous experimentation rather than theoretical abstraction. This foundational research underscored his commitment to verifiable data over institutional preferences, establishing a pattern of in molecular transformations.

Graduate and Postgraduate Training

Julian obtained a degree in from in 1923 through the Austin Fellowship, conducting research under the supervision of Edward P. Kohler on advanced synthetic methods. Despite completing the required coursework and demonstrating exceptional aptitude, he was denied admission to Harvard's doctoral program, a decision attributed to racial by departmental faculty, including his advisor, who refused to support a Black candidate. This barrier exemplified the systemic exclusion faced by African American scholars in elite U.S. institutions at the time, compelling Julian to return to teaching positions at Black colleges such as West Virginia State and while pursuing independent avenues for advanced study. Undeterred, Julian's persistence secured a fellowship in 1929, funded by the , enabling him to take leave from and enroll at the , where racial barriers were absent and the chemistry program emphasized rigorous empirical approaches to isolation. He completed his Ph.D. in chemistry there in 1931, becoming only the third African American to earn a in the field, with his dissertation advancing the structural elucidation of plant-derived compounds through verifiable synthetic transformations rather than unproven theoretical models. This training abroad cultivated his expertise in chemistry, prioritizing reproducible chemical reactions and isolation techniques that would underpin his later contributions, while highlighting how individual determination circumvented domestic institutional biases.

Academic Positions and Early Research

Teaching Roles at Fisk and Howard Universities

Following his graduation from DePauw University in 1920, Julian accepted a teaching position as chemistry instructor at , a historically Black college in , where he served until 1923. In this capacity, he delivered coursework to undergraduate students, focusing on foundational chemical concepts in a department constrained by modest facilities and budgets common to such institutions during the era. After obtaining his master's degree from Harvard University in 1923 and teaching briefly at West Virginia State College from 1926 to 1927, Julian joined Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1927 as associate professor and acting chair of the chemistry department, a role he held until 1931. Under his leadership, the department managed increased instructional demands, with Julian overseeing curriculum delivery and student mentoring while confronting persistent underfunding that limited access to modern equipment. Amid these teaching obligations, Julian commenced preliminary research on extracting alkaloids from local plant sources, such as species amenable to basic isolation techniques, by improvising laboratory protocols with available materials to expand departmental capabilities. This work, supported in part by a 1929 fellowship from the General Education Board that enabled advanced study in alkaloid chemistry abroad, yielded initial publications on related compounds and underscored his commitment to integrating practical experimentation into student training. Julian prioritized hands-on laboratory skills to equip students for empirical scientific pursuits, navigating resource scarcity through innovative adaptations rather than reliance on external grants or expansive infrastructure.

DePauw Fellowship and Independent Alkaloid Work

In 1932, Percy Lavon Julian returned to his alma mater, , where he was appointed a in chemistry under the invitation of department head William M. Blanchard. This position allowed him to conduct targeted investigations into plant-derived , building on his prior work in . His efforts centered on isolating and characterizing indole-based alkaloids from natural sources, such as the Calabar bean (), including the companion compound geneserine alongside the primary alkaloid . Amid the constraints of in 1930s Indiana, which limited formal collaborations and institutional support for Black researchers, Julian emphasized self-reliant methodologies for structural elucidation. He employed classical degradation techniques—such as hydrolysis and oxidation—to break down alkaloids into known fragments, cross-verifying results through partial syntheses and spectroscopic comparisons where available. These approaches enabled rigorous confirmation of molecular architectures and provided insights into plausible biosynthetic pathways, linking plant metabolism to compound formation without assuming unproven enzymatic mechanisms. The outcomes of this period included five co-authored publications in the Journal of the American Chemical Society detailing isolation yields, purity assessments, and structural proofs, which furnished empirical benchmarks for subsequent medicinal extractions. This work demonstrated the practical advantages of leveraging low-cost, abundant botanical feedstocks for alkaloid procurement, offering a cost-effective complement to labor-intensive full syntheses and facilitating broader access to bioactive natural products.

Breakthroughs in Organic Synthesis

Synthesis of Physostigmine and Glaucoma Treatment

In 1935, Percy L. Julian, collaborating with Joseph Pikl, accomplished the first of (eserine), an historically isolated from the Calabar bean (). This 10-step linear process began with readily available precursors such as oxindole and proceeded through key transformations, including alkylation of oxindoles and construction of the ring, culminating in the natural enantiomer after resolution of intermediates. The synthesis addressed the structural challenges posed by physostigmine's complex tricyclic framework and , which had thwarted earlier partial efforts by chemists like Robert Robinson. Prior to Julian's breakthrough, production relied on extraction from Calabar beans, a labor-intensive and variable process yielding low quantities at high cost, often exceeding $100 per gram due to the bean's scarcity and . Julian's route circumvented these constraints by enabling synthetic from non-biological starting materials, reducing dependency on natural variability and eliminating risks from impure extracts. Resolution of racemic intermediates ensured the biologically active , confirmed through comparative physiological assays matching the alkaloid's effects to natural samples. Physostigmine's medical value stemmed from its role as a reversible , promoting parasympathomimetic activity that induced and enhanced trabecular outflow of aqueous humor, thereby lowering in patients. Julian's synthesis directly facilitated broader clinical access to this treatment, previously limited by supply shortages, with empirical validation via bioassays demonstrating equivalent potency and duration of action to bean-derived material. This chemical approach prioritized reproducible efficacy over extraction inefficiencies, marking a pivotal advance in alkaloid therapeutics independent of botanical constraints.

Advances in Alkaloid and Steroid Chemistry

In the early 1930s, during his research fellowship at , Percy Julian extended his investigations by developing degradative methods to elucidate the carbon skeletons of complex plant-derived , establishing empirical foundations for subsequent total syntheses. These techniques involved selective oxidation, , and fragmentation reactions to break down molecular structures into identifiable fragments, allowing precise mapping of nitrogen-containing rings and side chains that had previously eluded full characterization. Such approaches, rooted in systematic empirical degradation rather than speculative modeling, confirmed connectivity patterns in isolated from sources like the Calabar bean, enabling verification of proposed structures against natural isolates. Julian's initial explorations in chemistry, contemporaneous with his work around 1932–1935, centered on —a extracted from plant oils—as a viable precursor for bioactive steroids. By recognizing stigmasterol's 27-carbon framework with a at C-22, he identified degradation pathways to generate intermediates resembling the 21-carbon nucleus essential for hormones like progesterone, using and catalytic reduction to cleave side chains while preserving the steroidal core. This reductionist strategy dissected the molecule into verifiable subunits, highlighting mechanistic parallels between plant sterols and mammalian hormones without reliance on animal tissues. These efforts underscored Julian's emphasis on plant-derived efficiency, contrasting the low yields (typically under 1% recovery) of routes employed by firms like Merck and , which depended on scarce animal gallstones and multi-step oxidations prone to side reactions. Plant sterols like offered abundant, reproducible access—potentially orders of magnitude higher in extractable quantity from residues—bypassing the causal bottlenecks of animal sourcing, such as variability in gland quality and ethical scalability limits, thereby grounding production in data-driven botanical realism over inefficient zoological dependence.

Industrial Career at Glidden Company

Recruitment and Soybean Protein Developments

In 1936, Percy Julian was recruited by the Glidden Company in as director of research for its Soya Products Division, a position that capitalized on his expertise in chemistry to explore industrial applications of . Despite prevailing that limited opportunities for African American scientists, Glidden's leadership recognized Julian's qualifications from his academic work and prior correspondence requesting samples for extraction experiments. Upon arrival, Julian was tasked with maximizing the value of soybean components, focusing on empirical processes to derive profitable products from oil extraction by-products rather than relying solely on theoretical yields. Julian's team developed high-purity isolates, known as alpha-protein, through chemical isolation techniques including acid of defatted , achieving approximately 90% protein content suitable for industrial use. These isolates served as binders in coatings and adhesives, enabling Glidden to enter markets previously dominated by animal-derived proteins like , with the process emphasizing scalable extraction to minimize waste and enhance economic viability. By optimizing and purification steps, Julian's methods produced a water-soluble protein that could be whipped into stable foams, demonstrating practical utility over lab-scale purity concerns. A key innovation involved isolating s from residues, where Julian's group centrifuged large volumes—starting from requests for five-gallon samples—to concentrate and extract white solid s like , which were sold at $200 per pound as valuable by-products. This approach transformed low-value waste from oil into a revenue stream, with empirical adjustments to and solvent extraction reducing losses and proving the feasibility of plant-based commercialization ahead of synthetic alternatives. During the 1940s, Julian advanced soy-derived foam latex formulations using alpha-protein, which Glidden supplied to National Foam System for Aero-Foam, a firefighting agent effective against oil and gasoline blazes by forming a thick, smothering blanket. The process prioritized rapid, verifiable scalability, allowing production in canisters for deployment akin to shaving cream, and contributed to wartime fire suppression needs without compromising on material efficacy derived from soybean fractionation.

Large-Scale Steroid Production from Plant Sources

At Glidden Company, Percy Julian directed the development of an industrial process in 1940 to synthesize progesterone from stigmasterol, a sterol extracted from abundant soybean oil. This route involved ozonolysis of stigmasterol to cleave its side chain, followed by chemical modifications to yield progesterone, enabling the processing of 100 pounds of mixed soy sterols daily into hormone precursors valued at $10,000 per day in 1940 dollars. The scalability of soybean sources—derived from agricultural byproducts—allowed annual production on the order of tons, far exceeding the limited yields from animal bile extractions or the constrained supply of diosgenin from Mexican yams in rival processes. Reaction yields, though not publicly detailed in aggregate, supported efficient conversion, with Glidden quadrupling progesterone output through optimized precipitation and purification of sterols from soy oil. This plant-based approach dramatically lowered costs by leveraging soy's availability, reducing intermediates to under 20 cents per gram and making progesterone viable for widespread therapeutic use in conditions like menstrual disorders. Prior methods reliant on scarce animal sources yielded only milligrams at prohibitive prices, whereas Julian's process prioritized causal efficiency: high-volume extraction from renewable crops minimized supply bottlenecks and waste, substantiating industrial viability over labor-intensive isolation from ox bile. Extending this framework, Julian's team advanced production in the late 1940s by converting soy-derived sterols, including stigmastanol intermediates, through multi-step synthesis to the final compound. This culminated in a 1949 process that slashed costs from approximately $200 per gram—via early animal-derived routes—to pennies per dose, rendering treatments accessible beyond elite clinical trials. Efficacy was confirmed in patient studies, where affordable supply enabled broader relief, underscoring plant sterols' superiority in yield and economics over inefficient bile processing, which required tons of animal glands for grams of product. The method's primacy stemmed from empirical yields in side-chain degradation and ring modifications, avoiding dependency on fluctuating yam imports.

Entrepreneurial Independent Research

Founding of Julian Laboratories

In 1953, Percy Lavon Julian resigned from the Glidden Company on December 1 to establish Julian Laboratories, Inc., forgoing an annual salary of nearly $50,000 to pursue independent research in pharmaceutical synthesis. The firm initially operated from Franklin Park, a suburb of , , with additional facilities later established in and to leverage access to plant sources like wild Mexican yams for production. Julian self-financed the venture by recruiting skilled chemists, including and women previously employed at Glidden, to focus on custom synthesis of intermediates and other niche compounds, emphasizing scalable processes derived from his prior soybean-based methodologies. The laboratories prioritized development of precursors for oral contraceptives, such as synthetic progesterone derivatives, and anti-inflammatory agents like analogs, building on Julian's expertise in and chemistry to meet pharmaceutical demands without reliance on government subsidies or preferential funding. Diversified revenue streams integrated adapted soy technologies for cost-effective production, enabling contracts with firms like for bulk supplies and positioning the company as a key supplier in the emerging therapeutics market. By 1961, the enterprise's success through process innovations and market responsiveness culminated in its acquisition by for over $2.3 million, which elevated Julian to one of the first African American millionaires via entrepreneurial merit rather than external aid. This sale allowed Julian to shift focus toward continued research under affiliation with the buyer, while the firm's operations had demonstrated viable independent scaling in competitive pharmaceutical synthesis.

Innovations in Pharmaceuticals and Materials

At Julian Laboratories, founded in 1953, Percy Julian scaled the synthesis of steroid intermediates from diosgenin extracted from wild Mexican yams, enabling pharmaceutical companies to produce corticosteroids like at reduced costs compared to prior animal-derived methods, which had limited supply and high expense. This process involved multi-step conversions yielding intermediates such as 16-dehydropregnenolone , which served as precursors for 17-hydroxy steroids essential in hormone replacement and anti-inflammatory treatments. By , the laboratory's output supported bulk production, with Julian establishing extraction facilities in to ensure raw material scalability. Julian's routes advanced variants, including efficient preparation of 17-hydroxycorticosterone analogs, which demonstrated therapeutic efficacy in clinical trials for conditions like , where reduced inflammation markers by up to 70% in early studies. These syntheses prioritized plant-based feedstocks over costly extractions, achieving yields that lowered intermediate prices from thousands to hundreds of dollars per kilogram. In parallel, Julian refined pathways for sex hormones, notably progesterone, via optimized degradation and cyclization steps from steroidal sapogenins, facilitating its use in oral contraceptives that proved 99% effective in preventing when tested in the and . This work extended his earlier soy-derived progesterone methods but leveraged yam sources for higher purity and volume, supplying pharmaceutical firms amid rising demand for therapies. Beyond pharmaceuticals, Julian explored plant-derived materials, developing soy-based and coatings with flame-retardant properties, tested for military applications where they exhibited superior fire suppression compared to alternatives, extinguishing fires in under 30 seconds per empirical evaluations. These innovations built on scalable extraction techniques, though commercial transitions faced delays from certification processes that prioritized animal-tested benchmarks over plant-sourced equivalents.

Intellectual Property and Scholarly Output

Patent Achievements and Commercial Applications

Percy Lavon Julian amassed over 130 chemical patents, prioritizing processes that enabled efficient, large-scale production of pharmaceuticals from inexpensive plant feedstocks like soybeans, thereby bridging laboratory novelty with industrial viability. A pivotal early patent covered the total synthesis of physostigmine in 1935, transforming the glaucoma therapeutic—previously limited to extraction from rare Calabar beans—into a manufacturable compound that supported consistent supply for clinical use. During the 1940s at Glidden Company, Julian secured patents for extracting and refining soy sterols, including U.S. Patent 2,218,971 for sterol recovery, which facilitated conversion into progesterone, testosterone, and related hormones at commercial volumes exceeding prior animal-gland methods by orders of magnitude in yield and cost-efficiency. In the 1950s, patents such as U.S. Patent 2,752,339 for preparation from soy-derived intermediates enabled production for treatment, with processes scaled to industrial batches that reduced synthesis costs from thousands to hundreds of dollars per . These patents were licensed to major pharmaceutical entities, yielding royalties and spurring market expansion; for instance, soy-based routes supplanted costlier alternatives, making hormones accessible for widespread therapeutic application while Julian defended claims against infringement through rigorous process validations.

Key Publications and Scientific Contributions

Julian's scholarly output encompassed over 100 peer-reviewed papers, with a focus on elucidating the structures and syntheses of plant-derived alkaloids and steroids through systematic organic transformations and structural verification. His approach emphasized stepwise reaction mechanisms validated by derivative analyses, determinations, and elemental assays, establishing unambiguous molecular architectures where prior work had relied on incomplete . A pivotal early publication appeared in the Journal of the in 1935, titled "Studies in the Series. V. The Complete Synthesis of (Eserine)," co-authored with Josef Pikl. This work detailed a 13-step synthesis from o-nitrophenylacetic , featuring critical condensations and reductions to construct the tetrahydroindole core and methylcarbamyl group, correcting structural ambiguities in eserine proposed by earlier chemists like Robert Robinson through direct comparison of synthetic intermediates' properties with natural isolates. The synthesis confirmed physostigmine's constitution via matches and derivative formations, enabling scalable production independent of Calabar bean extraction. In the , Julian's papers advanced chemistry from sources, including degradation studies that mapped saponin-to-sterol conversions. These investigations, often in Chemistry, dissected and yields from soy phospholipids, identifying and dependencies that maximized stigmasterol and sitosterol recovery—key precursors for progesterone and other hormones—via controlled empirical trials disproving inefficient prior extraction models. Complementary degradative work on relatives employed oxidative cleavages and spectroscopic adjuncts (emerging UV data) to test biosynthetic linkages, favoring hypotheses aligned with observed distributions over speculative pathways.

Recognition and Honors

Professional Awards and Academy Elections

In 1947, Julian received the Spingarn Medal, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's highest honor, for his development of efficient chemical processes to produce cortisone from soybean sterols, which lowered manufacturing costs from hundreds of dollars per gram to affordable levels and facilitated its use in treating rheumatoid arthritis on a larger scale. This recognition highlighted the practical impact of his industrial-scale synthesis methods on medical accessibility. Julian was elected to the in 1973, becoming the first chemist of African descent to achieve this distinction and only the second scientist of African descent overall, in acknowledgment of his foundational advancements in synthesizing physiologically active compounds from plant materials, including alkaloids and steroid hormones that advanced pharmaceutical production. Posthumously, in 1990, Julian was inducted into the for securing over 130 U.S. patents on innovations such as semi-synthetic progesterone and testosterone derivatives, which stemmed from his verifiable efficiencies in extracting and modifying from soybeans to yield therapeutic steroids at reduced costs compared to animal-derived sources. These honors underscore the causal link between his process improvements—such as multi-step crystallizations yielding high-purity intermediates—and the scalability of therapies, rather than ancillary factors.

Posthumous Legacy and Modern Assessments

Julian's pioneering syntheses of steroid hormones and intermediates from sources, particularly soybeans, established efficient pathways that reduced production costs from prohibitive levels—initially hundreds of dollars per gram for derived from animal bile—to scalable affordability, enabling widespread medical adoption for conditions like and . These methods, emphasizing chemical transformation of abundant phytosterols like , laid foundational processes for the pharmaceutical industry's steroid active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which continue to rely on semi-synthetic routes from plant sterols for corticosteroids, progestins, and related therapeutics. By 1975, at the time of his death, Julian's innovations had already transformed accessibility, with minimal substantive advancements in core synthesis efficiency since, as subsequent developments shifted toward microbial and alternative feedstocks without supplanting his plant-based efficiency principles. In economic terms, Julian's work democratized treatments by prioritizing low-cost plant chemistry over scarce animal-derived precursors, fostering industrial scalability that expanded global use of steroids for , replacement, and contraception; this contrasted sharply with pre-Julian reliance on expensive, limited-supply extraction, and assessments note that modern pharmaceutical pricing often diverges from such efficiency-driven models due to regulatory and structures rather than inherent production constraints. His approach exemplified rigorous chemical grounded in structural elucidation and stepwise transformation, yielding over 100 U.S. s and influencing billions in steroid market value, though contemporary critiques highlight how consolidated industry practices have reintroduced cost barriers absent in his era's breakthroughs. Recent assessments in the 2020s reaffirm Julian's heritage as emblematic of regional scientific contributions, with 2025 publications underscoring his foundational role in bridging Southern botanical resources to global medicine. Harvard University's establishment of the Percy Lavon Julian Prize lectureship, honoring his A.M. from the institution in , featured its inaugural delivery by Paula Hammond on , 2025, recognizing ongoing inspiration from his synthetic methodologies in and . These honors, alongside the enduring Percy L. Julian Award for Research in Pure or Applied Chemistry by the , affirm his legacy as a benchmark for empirical, plant-derived innovation without significant posthumous extensions to his primary frameworks.

Personal and Professional Challenges

Encounters with Racial Barriers

Despite earning a degree from in 1921, Julian was denied a fellowship to pursue a PhD there, as university officials cited concerns that white students would object to instruction by an African American. He instead secured his doctorate from the in 1931, demonstrating persistence through international alternatives amid domestic exclusions. Julian encountered further institutional barriers upon returning to the . In 1936, DePauw University's Board of Trustees rejected his application for a tenure-track faculty position, despite his research accomplishments as a fellow there, explicitly on racial grounds; he subsequently transitioned to industrial research at the Glidden Company. Multiple chemical firms, including , withdrew job offers upon learning of his race, limiting access to facilities and professional networks otherwise available to comparably qualified peers. Housing discrimination persisted into the mid-20th century. In 1950, upon purchasing and renovating a home in the affluent, predominantly white suburb of , Julian's family faced arson attacks, including a firebomb thrown into the residence on November 22, 1950, and subsequent break-ins with attempts to poison the property—acts emblematic of resistance to in residential areas. His civil rights activism, including fundraising for the NAACP's legal efforts to enforce desegregation, amplified scrutiny and hostility, compounding professional isolation while he maintained output in chemical research through self-reliant industrial ventures. These quantifiable exclusions—fellowship withdrawals, faculty denials, and job rejections—did not halt his trajectory; Julian circumvented them via European study, corporate innovation, and independent enterprise, underscoring achievement through merit and adaptability rather than institutional accommodation.

Professional Setbacks and Resilience Demonstrated

In 1932, Julian resigned from amid a stemming from an alleged romantic involvement with Anna Johnson, the wife of his colleague Robert Thompson, after private correspondence was leaked in the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper during the summer. The episode was exacerbated by internal academic politics, including Julian's role in university president Wyatt Johnson's campaign to oust a white faculty member, Shohan, who retaliated by amplifying the personal dispute. No legal charges resulted from the matter, though it imposed immediate professional costs by tarnishing his standing and halting his research momentum at . Julian swiftly mitigated the fallout by securing a research fellowship at , his alma mater, where he collaborated with former classmate Josef Pikl on isolating and synthesizing alkaloids from beans. This period yielded 11 publications in the Journal of the within a short span, culminating in the 1935 total synthesis of —a compound previously sourced only from natural extracts and vital for treatment—demonstrating unbroken productivity despite the prior disruption. The breakthrough directly paved the way for Julian's recruitment by the Glidden Company as director of its Soya Products Division research in 1935, transitioning him to industrial applications of his expertise. This sequence of recovery highlights causal resilience: institutional responses to personal-professional entanglements, often inconsistently applied amid rivalries, did not derail Julian's trajectory, as his emphasis on verifiable scientific outputs—rather than external narratives of —restored and elevated his standing through demonstrated capability.

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