At the lowest point in Julian's career, his former mentor, William
Blanchard, threw him a much-needed lifeline. Blanchard offered Julian a
position to teach organic chemistry
at DePauw University in 1932.
Julian then helped Josef Pikl, a fellow
student at the University of Vienna, to come to the United States to
work with him at DePauw.
In 1935 Julian completed the total synthesis of physostigmine and confirmed the structural formula assigned to it.
When Julian completed his
synthesis, the melting point matched the correct one for natural
physostigmine from the calabar bean.
Julian also extracted stigmasterol, which took its name from Physostigma venenosum, the west African calabar bean
that he hoped could serve as raw material for synthesis of human
steroidal hormones.
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