Sarsasapogenin is a saponin that comes from the sarsaparilla plant. when three of the sugars were removed the remaining portions of the molecule presented problems. To obtain the steroid ring from sarsaspogenin the top part of the molecule had to be removed. At the time this was discovered it was not thought possible, but Russel Marker (an American chemist) was later able to do so and his procedure, the removal of the sapogenin side grouping from the steroid system, is still used today in the multimillion-dollar synthetic hormone industry known as the Marker degradation. When Marker was in Pennsylvania he extracted a similar sapogenin to sarsasapogenin. The molecule was called Diosgenin and the only difference was an extra bond.
Sarsasapogenin