Chemical Pathways of Corticosteroids, Industrial Synthesis from Sapogenins.

Corticosteroids are products of high industrial and commercial importance. There are dozens of different synthesis published for all of them. Some are coming from academia and some from industry. Here, industrial processes for the synthesis of prednisone, prednisolone, hydrocortisone, dexamethasone, betamethasone, and methylprednisolone are described. The starting material is diosgenin and the desired molecules are reached due to a good combination of chemistry and biotechnology that was developed along the second part of the twentieth century.