Venancio Deulofeu Gascons, Argentine organic chemist (Buenos Aires 01 April 1902 – Buenos Aires 04 October 1984)

ACHIEVEMENTS

Established that bile of Argentine snakes displayed cholic acid

With several coworkers determined composition of venoms from South American toads  

Demonstrated the presence of adrenaline in anuran venom

Developed a new type of delayed-action insulin

Obtained the apocholic acid in Wieland’s laboratory

Isolated stroma from urine independently from Swiss Hassler 

Isolated antibiotic curamycin from Streptomyces curacoi and elucidated its partial structure (1962)

With Laughe isolated alkaloids saurin and sauroxine from Lycopodius sururus (1942)

Elucidated structure of gamma-fagarine from Fagara coco, olivacine and guatambuine from Aspidosperma australe and tubulosine from Pogonopus tubulosus

With G. Marini Bettolo characterized flavonoid glycosides from ombú (Phytolacca dioica)

Characterized chlorogenic acids and related compounds from maté (Ilex paraguayensis) 

Isolated and characterized new natural sugar derivatives as D-curacose, curacin and curamycose

Isolated equine oestrogenic hormone (1934)

Discovered new structural types in plant chemistry 

With A. Sordelli & R. Wernicke characterized Forssman antigen as a lipidic complex associated to a carrier protein

Naturaleza del antigeno heterogenetico. Rev. Asoc. Med. Arg. 37:570, 1924

Sur la nature de l’antigéne hétérogénétique. C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris 92:898, 1925

Obtained new esthers of acids

Nuevos esteres de los acidos bromopropionico y bromoisobutírico. Anal.Soc.Esp.Fis.Quim. 26:315, 1928

METHODS

With Gimenez modified Wohl degradation by the use of propionylated nitriles

With Sordelli developed a method for preparing insuline (Sordelli-Deulofeu method)  in 1923

Developed a method for dosage of cholesterol in bilis   

Introduced picric acid for use in insuline precipitation and solvents and pure silk for its recovery 

Searched for general methods for transforming one aldose in another with exclusion of one carbon atom

Developed a general method for N-methylated amino acids synthesis under aromatic aldehydes condensation with creatinine (1942)

Eponym of Deulofeu-Mendivelzua method  

Papers in Nature

With R. Labriola, O.Orias, E.M. de Españes & A.C. Taquini. Fagarine, a possible substitute for quinidine. Science 102(2638):69-70, 1945

With R. Labriola & B. Berinzaghi. Structure of alpha-fagarine. Nature 162(4122):694, 1948

With J.O. Deferrari. Preparation of D-glucose dibenzamide from pentabenzoyl-D-alpha-glucose. Nature 167 (4236):42, 1951

With F. Moewus. An antagonist of the sterility hormone rutin in the green alga Chlamydomonas eugametos: ombuoside=7,4’-dimethylrutin. Nature 173 (4396):218, 1954

HONORS 

Houssay Prize, Organization of American States

Medal from International Academy of Lutetia

Doctor Honoris Causa, Université de Paris (1955)