hecogenin Chem.
(hɛkəʊˈdʒɛnɪn)
[f. mod.L. Hec(htia, name of a genus of plants + -o + genin.]
A steroid glycoside (see quot. 1965) occurring in various plants, as Hechtia texensis and Agave species, obtained commercially from sisal waste and used commercially as a precursor in the manufacture of cortisone and other steroid hormones.
| 1943 R. E. Marker et al. in Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. LXV. 1199/2 We first isolated from Hechtia texensis (S. Wats.) a new steroidal sapogenin having the composition C27H42O4..which we have named hecogenin. 1952 Sci. News XXV. 115 More than 100,000 tons of fibre are produced yearly from sisal,..and..approximately the same amount of waste material, containing 0.04 per cent to 0.1 per cent of hecogenin, are available. 1965 Pollock & Stevens Dict. Org. Compounds (ed. 4) III. 1809/1, 3β-Hydroxy-5α-spirostan-12-one (Hecogenin). 1972 Materials & Technol. V. xx. 752 Hecogenin is extracted from sisal waste. |