Ethisterone
Systematic (IUPAC) name
(8R,9S,10R,13R,14S,17R)-17-Ethynyl-17-hydroxy-10,13-dimethyl-2,6,7,8,9,11,12,14,15,16-decahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-3-one
Identifiers
CAS number	434-03-7
ATC code	G03DC04
PubChem	11890120
Chemical data
Formula	C21H28O2
Mol. mass	312.446 g/mol
Pharmacokinetic data
Bioavailability	?
Metabolism	?
Half life	?
Excretion	?
Therapeutic considerations
Pregnancy cat.	?
Legal status
Routes	?

Ethisterone is a progestogen hormone.

The first orally active progestin, ethisterone (pregneninolone, 17α-ethynyltestosterone), the 17α-ethynyl analog of testosterone, was synthesized in 1938 by Hans Herloff Inhoffen, Willy Logemann, Walter Hohlweg, and Arthur Serini at Schering AG in Berlin and marketed in Germany in 1939 as Proluton C and by Schering in the U.S. in 1945 as Pranone.

Ethisterone was also marketed in the U.S. from the 1950s into the 1960s under a variety of trade names by other pharmaceutical companies that had been members of the pre-World War II European hormone cartel (Ciba, Organon, Roussel).

References

• Inhoffen HH, Logemann W, Hohlweg W, Serini A (May 4, 1938). "Untersuchungen in der Sexualhormon-Reihe (Investigations in the sex hormone series)" (abstract page). Ber Dtsch Chem Ges 71 (5): 1024–32. 
• Petrow V (1970). "The contraceptive progestagens". Chem Rev 70 (6): 713–26. doi:10.1021/cr60268a004. PMID 4098492. 
• Kugener, André (2004). Tabletten der Fa. Schering (Tablets of Schering AG) Proluton C tablets circa 1939
• Quinkert G (2004). "Hans Herloff Inhoffen in His Times (1906-1992)" (abstract page). Eur J Org Chem 2004 (17): 3727–48. doi:10.1002/ejoc.200300813. 
• Sneader, Walter (2005). "Hormone analogues", Drug discovery : a history. Hoboken NJ: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 188-225. ISBN 0-471-89980-1. 
• Djerassi C (2006). "Chemical birth of the pill". Am J Obstet Gynecol 194 (1): 290–8. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2005.06.010. PMID 16389046.