Delta 4-19-nor-17alpha-ethinylandrosten-17beta-ol-3-one and process
- Filed
- 12 November 1952
- Granted
- 1 May 1956
- Assignee
- Syntex S.A.
- Co-inventors
- Carl Djerassi, George Rosenkranz
Pharmaceutical chemistry
Luis E. Miramontes: inventions and patents
Known for Synthesis of norethisterone, used in early oral contraceptivesNationality Born in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico1925 to 13 September 2004
Luis E. Miramontes was a Mexican chemist and UNAM student who, as a postgraduate member of a team assembled by George Rosenkranz for the Syntex laboratory, synthesised norethisterone. UNAM dates the synthesis to 15 October 1951 and links it to the first oral contraceptives. He is named with Carl Djerassi and George Rosenkranz on US patent 2,744,122, assigned to Syntex S.A., which claims a process for making the compound.2,1
Patents
Inventions
- Norethisterone synthesis, 1951. Synthesis of a 19-nor steroid with a 17alpha-ethynyl group, a progestin that UNAM links to the first oral contraceptives.2,1
Recognition
- 2005 UNAM reports that the Academia Mexicana de Ciencias concluded his synthesis was Mexico's largest scientific contribution to the world2
Sources
- Google Patents, US2744122A Delta 4-19-nor-17alpha-ethinylandrosten-17beta-ol-3-one and process (accessed 2026-10-28)
- UNAM Global, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, De la UNAM, cientifico que sintetizo compuesto para la pildora anticonceptiva (1 December 2022)