Identification of Crystalline Progesterone with 2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine

Pharmaceuticals and Natural Drugs

“…Deichmann (55) has modified the reagents of Melzer, Millón, Liebermann, Guareschi, and Cotton to p -rmit the qualitative differentiation of o-, m-, and p-cresols. The quantitative determinations of progesterone in oil by precipitating with 2,4dinitrophenylhydrazine is reported by Klein et al (124). In this reaction 1 mole of progesterone reacts with 2 moles of reagent.…”

The reaction of steroid ketones with 2, 4-dinitrophenylhydrazine

“…The dinitrophenylhydrazones of most ketosteroids are so insoluble in ethanol that they precipitate from the reaction mixture and can be separated by filtration. In the case of progesterone, for instance, the amount of bisdinitrophenylhydrazone thus obtained is almost quantitative (2). However, complete isolation of dinitrophenylhydrazones which are partly soluble in alcohol is difficult, since addition of water to the reaction mixture causes precipitation of both dinitrophenylhydrazone and dinitrophenylhydrazine.…”

“…The former can easily be separated by chromatography and the latter by extraction with sodium 1 This work was supported in part by research grants from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service; from the American Cancer Society upon recommendation of the Committee on Growth of the National Research Council; and from Armour and Company, Chicago, Illinois. 2 Part of this work was presented before the American Society of Biological Chemists carbonate solution. The weights of these derivatives can be estimated gravimetrically or spectrophotometrically and represent the amount of dinitrophenylhydrazine not utilized in the reaction (Table I).…”