Luis E. Miramontes 3668285 217912375 2008-06-08T07:57:31Z 76.235.130.183 [[Image:luis miramontes.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Luis E. Miramontes ca. 1951]] '''Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas''' ([[March 16]] [[1925]], in [[Tepic]], [[Nayarit]] &ndash; [[September 13]] [[2004]], in [[Mexico City]]) , was a [[Mexico|Mexican]] chemist known as the co-inventor of the [[progestin]] used in one of the first two [[combined oral contraceptive pill|oral contraceptive]]s. He obtained his first Degree in chemical engineering in the [[Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México]] (UNAM). He was founder researcher of the Institute of the Chemistry of the same University, making research in the area of [[Organic Chemistry]] mainly. He was a professor of the Faculty of Chemistry of the UNAM, Director and professor of the School of Chemistry at the Universidad Iberoamericana, and deputy Director of the Mexican Institute of Petroleum (IMP). Miramontes was member of diverse scientific societies, such as the [[American Chemical Society]] (Emeritus), the Mexican Institute of Chemical Engineers, the National Institute of Chemical and Chemical Engineers, the Chemical Society of Mexico, the [[American Institute of Chemical Engineers]] and the [[New York Academy of Sciences]]. == Invention and synthesis of norethindrone== [[Image:miramontes notebook.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Luis E. Miramontes signed laboratory notebook. October 15, 1951]] The scientific contribution of Luis Miramontes is very extensive, includes numerous publications and nearly 40 national and international patents in different areas such as [[organic chemistry]], [[pharmaceutical chemistry]], [[petrochemistry]] and [[atmospheric chemistry]] and polluting agents. Among his multiple contributions to world science, it is the synthesis on [[October 15]], [[1951]], when Miramontes was only 26 years old, of [[norethindrone]], that was to become the progestin used in one of the first two oral contraceptives ([[combined oral contraceptive pill]]s). By this reason, Luis Miramontes is considered by Lilia Miramontes to be its inventor.<ref>Lilia Miramontes. Un invento que cambió al mundo. ¿Cómo ves? Año 8 No. 67 2004</ref> [[Carl Djerassi]], Luis Miramontes and [[George Rosenkranz]] of the Mexican chemical company [[Syntex]] are listed on the patent for norethindrone as its co-inventors. Djerassi "is now known sometimes as the 'Father of the Pill'"<ref>Penny Le Couteur & Jay Burreson. Napoleon's Buttons. Tarcher; Reprint edition (May 24, 2004)</ref>. The historians, nevertheless, agree that the invention, or the first synthesis, is the work of Djerassi, Miramontes, and Rosenkranz.<ref>http://scielo-mx.bvs.br/scielo.php?pid=S0300-90412002000500002&script=sci_arttext&tlng=es</ref><ref>[http://www.um.es/fccd/anales/ad05/ad0511.pdf licea.PDF<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> For example, the Nobel laureate [[Max Perutz]]<ref>Max F. Perutz. I Wish I’d Made You Angry Earlier: Essays on Science, Scientists, and Humanity. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 1998.</ref> states that "On October 15th, 1951, the chemistry student Luis Miramontes, working under the direction of Djerassi and the director of the laboratory Jorge Rosenkranz synthesized the compound". Djerassi himself affirms that it was, in fact, Miramontes who conducted the very last step of the first synthesis of the compound: "On 15 October 1951, Luis Miramontes, a young Mexican chemist doing his undergraduate bachelor's thesis work at Syntex completed the synthesis of the 19-nor analogue of Inhoffen's compound—that is, 19-nor-17α-ethynyltestosterone or, for short 'norethindrone'—which turned out to be the first oral contraceptive to be synthesized. Lecture audiences are always intrigued when I display a slide showing the carefully dated and hand-written lab protocol of the very last step in that synthesis conducted by Miramontes, in which the elements of acetylene are added to impart oral activity."<ref>Carl Djerassi. This Man's Pill: Reflections on the 50th Birthday of the Pill. Oxford University Press 2001.[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v414/n6866/full/414850a.html]</ref> The scientific article reporting the synthesis of 19-nor-17α-ethynyltestosterone (norethindrone) has Miramontes as the second author.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Djerassi C, Miramontes L, Rosenkranz G, Sondheimer F |year=1954 |title=Steroids. LIV. Synthesis of 19-Nor-17α-ethynyltestosterone and 19-Nor-17α-methyltestosterone |journal=[[Journal of the American Chemical Society|J Am Chem Soc]] |volume=76 |issue=16 |pages=4089–4091 |url=http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/jacsat/1954/76/i16/f-pdf/f_ja01645a010.pdf |doi=10.1021/ja01645a009}}</ref> Finally, the very last step of the synthesis method was registered, on October 15th, 1951, in page 114 of the Miramontes's personal laboratory notebook (signed). In a 2006 [[essay]] in the ''[[Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology|FASEB]] Journal'', the director of the [[Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology]] said: "Another aspect of the [[Nobel Prize]]s that is a perennial topic of discussion concerns those discoveries, inventions, or advances that go unrecognized altogether. One is the [[combined oral contraceptive pill|birth control pill]]. I have just mentioned the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research, where pioneering work by [[Gregory Pincus]] and [[Min Chueh Chang|M. C. Chang]] was carried out in the 1950s that led to the first birth control pill. Pincus died in 1967—at the tragic age of only 63, but I doubt that a Nobel Prize would have been awarded in any case. The tributaries flowing into the development of the oral contraceptive were numerous and temporally distributed across two decades, going back to the extraction of a substance from the roots of a jungle plant by [[Russell Marker]] that was readily convertible to pregnanediol and then to [[progesterone]] in two steps, the subsequent chemical synthesis of [[progestin]]s by [[Carl Djerassi]], Luis Miramontes, and [[Alejandro Zaffaroni]], and the discovery by Gregory Pincus and M.C. Chang at the Worcester Foundation that a compound sent to be tested by the [[G. D. Searle & Company|G. D. Searle Pharmaceutical Company]] was, contrary to expectations, a potent anti-ovulatory progestin."<ref>{{cite journal |author=Pederson T |year=2006 |title=Reflections on the prize of prizes: Alfred Nobel |journal=[[Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology|FASEB]] J |volume=20 |issue=13 |pages=2186–9 |pmid=17077294 |url=http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/reprint/20/13/2186.pdf}}</ref> == Outstanding life and recognition == [[Image:miramontes patent.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Patent of the first oral contraceptive, elected to the USA Inventors Hall of Fame]] *In [[1964]], the contraceptive pill was chosen by the [[United States Patent and Trademark Office|US Department of Patents]] as one of the 40 registered more important [[inventions]] between [[1794]] and [[1964]]. The name of Luis Miramontes appeared next to [[Pasteur]], [[Edison]], [[Alexander Graham Bell|Bell]], the [[Wright brothers]] and others of equal stature. It was included in the "USA Inventors Hall of Fame". *In [[1985]] he received the "[[Estado de Mexico]]" Medal, in the area of sciences and arts; as well as a public recognition from the government of the state of Nayarit, and an academic recognition from the Technological Institute of [[Tepic]]. *He received the Mexican National Prize on Chemistry "[[Andrés Manuel del Rio]]" in [[1986]]. *In [[1989]] he became a "[[Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs|pugwashite]]", that is, member of the [[Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs]], organization promoting peace and world development. The Pugwash Conferences were awarded the Peace [[Nobel Prize]] in [[1995]]. *In [[1992]] the General Hospital of Zone no. 1, of the Mexican Institute of Social Security, in [[Tepic]], [[Nayarit]], was named "[[Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cardenas Hospital]]". *In [[1994]] the Mexican Ministry of Health recognized his scientific contributions, when installing the National Program on Family Planning in [[Mexico]]. *He received in [[1998]], on behalf of the government of the state of [[Nayarit]], the "Amado Nervo" Medal. [[Image:mario molina.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Luis E. Miramontes (right) with Nobel Laurate [[Mario Molina]], ca. 1995]] *In [[2000]], the [[combined oral contraceptive pill|contraceptive pill]] was denominated three times as one of the most important inventions of the last 2000 years, by a group of outstanding personalities, that included several [[Nobel Prize|Nobel laurates]]<ref>John Brockman, editor. The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2000 Years. Phoenix. 2000</ref>. *In [[2001]], at the 50 Anniversary of the synthesis of [[norethindrone]], the [[UNAM]] and the Mexican Ministry of Health, organized individual tributes to Miramontes and Rosencraz. *In [[2003]], [[norethindrone]] was considered one of the most important 17 molecules that have influenced the history of mankind<ref>Penny Le Couteur & Jay Burreson. Napoleon's Buttons. Tarcher; Reprint edition (May 24, 2004)</ref>. *In [[2004]], the invention of Luis E. Miramontes was chosen as the twentieth most important one of all the times. The election was organized by [[SCENTA]], an initiative of The [[Engineering and Technology Board of the United Kingdom]]. *In [[2005]], the [[Mexican Academy of Sciences]], denominated the invention of Miramontes as the Mexican most important contribution to world science ever. Luis E. Miramontes, [[Andres Manuel del Rio]] (discoverer of [[vanadium]]) and [[Mario Molina]], Chemistry [[Nobel Prize]] in [[1995]], are the three most important Mexican chemists of all times. == Selected publications related to his invention == *'''Miramontes L'''; Rosenkranz G; Djerassi C. 1951 [[Journal Of The American Chemical Society]] 73 (7): 3540-3541 Steroids .22. The Synthesis Of 19-Nor-Progesterone<ref>http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/searchRedirect.cgi/jacsat/1951/73/i07/f-pdf/f_ja01151a547.pdf</ref> *Sandoval A; '''Miramontes L'''; Rosenkranz G; Djerassi C. 1951 [[Journal Of The American Chemical Society]] 73 (3): 990-991. The Dienone Phenol Rearrangement<ref>http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/searchRedirect.cgi/jacsat/1951/73/i03/f-pdf/f_ja01147a029.pdf</ref> *Sandoval A; '''Miramontes L'''; Rosenkranz G; Djerassi C; Sondheimer F. 1953 [[Journal Of The American Chemical Society]] 75 (16): 4117-4118 Steroids .69. 19-Nor-Desoxycorticosterone, A Potent Mineralocorticoid Hormone<ref>http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/searchRedirect.cgi/jacsat/1953/75/i16/f-pdf/f_ja01112a544.pdf</ref> *Mancera O; '''Miramontes L'''; Rosenkranz G; Sondheimer F; Djerassi C. 1953 [[Journal Of The American Chemical Society]] 75 (18): 4428-4429 Steroidal Sapogenins .28. The Reaction Of Peracids With Enol Acetates Of Delta-8-7-Keto And Delta-8-11-Keto Steroidal Sapogenins<ref>http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/searchRedirect.cgi/jacsat/1953/75/i18/f-pdf/f_ja01114a009.pdf</ref> *Djerassi C; '''Miramontes L'''; Rosenkranz G. 1953 [[Journal Of The American Chemical Society]] 75 (18): 4440-4442 Steroids .48. 19-Norprogesterone, A Potent Progestational Hormone<ref>http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/searchRedirect.cgi/jacsat/1953/75/i18/f-pdf/f_ja01114a013.pdf</ref> *Djerassi C; '''Miramontes L'''; Rosenkranz G; Sondheimer F. 1954 [[Journal Of The American Chemical Society]] 76 (16): 4092-4094 Steroids .54. Synthesis Of 19-Nor-17-Alpha-Ethynyltestosterone And 19-Nor-17-Alpha-Methyltestosterone<ref>http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/searchRedirect.cgi/jacsat/1954/76/i16/f-pdf/f_ja01645a010.pdf</ref> *'''Miramontes L'''; Aguinaco P; Romero MA. 1960 [[Journal Of The American Chemical Society]] 82(23): 6153-6155 Synthesis of 6-Methyl Steroids<ref>http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/searchRedirect.cgi/jacsat/1960/82/i23/f-pdf/f_ja01508a045.pdf</ref> ==External links== * [http://www.google.com/books?q=miramontes+luis+1951&btnG=Search+Books&lr= Books about the history of the pill mentioning Luis Miramontes discovery] == References == {{reflist}} *Lara V. Marks. Sexual Chemistry: A History of the Contraceptive Pill.372 pp. New Haven, Conn., Yale University Press, 2001. *Carl Djerassi. Steroids Made It Possible. American Chemical Society, Washington {{commonscat|Luis E. Miramontes}} [[Category:1925 births|Miramontes, Luis E.]] [[Category:2004 deaths|Miramontes, Luis E.]] [[Category:Syntex|Miramontes, Luis E.]] [[Category:Mexican chemists|Miramontes, Luis E.]] [[Category:Mexican engineers|Miramontes, Luis E.]] [[Category:People from Mexico City|Miramontes, Luis E.]] [[Category:National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni|Miramontes, Luis E.]] [[Category:National Autonomous University of Mexico faculty|Miramontes, Luis E.]] [[Category:Mexican inventors|Miramontes, Luis E.]] [[de:Luis E. Miramontes]] [[el:Luis E. Miramontes]] [[es:Luis E. Miramontes]] [[fr:Luis E. Miramontes]] [[ko:루이스 미라몬테스]] [[it:Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas]] [[nl:Luis E. Miramontes]] [[ja:ルイス・ミラモンテス]] [[pl:Luis Miramontes]] [[pt:Luis E. Miramontes]] [[ru:Мирамонтес, Луис]] [[sv:Luis E. Miramontes]]