diosgenin
/dʌɪˈɒsdʒənɪn
/noun [mass noun] Chemistry
A steroid compound obtained from Mexican yams and used in the synthesis of steroid hormones.The naturally occurring plant sterol diosgenin from Mexican yams can be converted through a simple laboratory process called hydrolyzation into a steroid compound molecularly identical to human progesterone....
- Dioscorea species contain the steroidal sapogenin called diosgenin.
- While one of the components in wild yam, diosgenin, can be converted in the laboratory to steroidal compounds including progesterone, this synthesis does not occur in the human body.
Origin
1930s: from dios- (from the modern Latin genus name Dioscorea) + genin, denoting steroids that occur as the non-sugar part of certain glycosides.