Dienolone acetate, also known as diene, CAS: 979-02-2, is prepared from diosgenin and is an important intermediate for steroids. It can be used to synthesize many downstream products.

The production of steroid hormone drugs (mainly including glucocorticoids, sex hormones, and birth control pills) in China has been under research and development since 1958. Similar to the early stages of European and American countries using plant derived diosgenin as the starting material, the production of corticosteroid sex hormones and new birth control pills has developed rapidly through chemical synthesis and biological manufacturing (microbial 11 hydroxylation and/or 1,2-dehydrogenation, as well as 16 hydroxylation, and in recent years, 15 hydroxylation and 4AD 9-hydroxylation). Since the 1990s, the golden age of global steroid hormones has seen an annual increase of 10-15% in sales; There are only 32 domestic corticosteroid raw material pharmaceutical companies with 110 approvals; Consuming 2000 tons of diosgenin annually, generating sales revenue of billions of yuan, with a domestic share of 5%. The rigid demand for steroid hormone drugs drives the drug market to be "as stable as a rock and indispensable" in the world of drugs. According to the data provided by the 10th edition of Brok Microbiology in 2007, the global annual production of the four major basic corticosteroid raw materials alone exceeds 800 tons; At the 2001 National Steroid Hormone Drug Conference in Pengzhou, Chengdu, China, Lu Yanchang from Tianjin Pharmaceutical reported that at that time, the production of the four major basic corticosteroid raw materials in China had reached 130 tons, accounting for one-third of the global production.

Due to the continuous growth of the market, the price of diene started to rise from 2007 to 2013, and after 2013, the price dropped slightly. Its raw material saponin is made from ginger. More than 10 years ago, the ginger planting craze in China ended in a "Great Leap Forward" style deception that severely harmed farmers. Subsequently, the quantity of ginger began to decrease and the price increased. From 2008 to 2013, the price increased from 0.38 yuan/kg to 4.4 yuan/kg, directly affecting the price of saponin from 120000 to 980000 yuan and the price of diene from 280000 yuan to 1.65 million yuan. Not only has the quantity of ginger decreased, but the content of saponin has also started to decrease. In addition, many saponin factories have closed due to environmental issues, which has had a direct impact on the diene industry.

Due to limited raw materials and strict environmental requirements, the production of diene has encountered difficulties; In addition, in recent years, China's biological fermentation (sterol fermentation preparation 4ad) technology has matured and reached industrial production scale. Biological fermentation 4ad has low cost and minimal environmental pollution, so diene can be said to have been hit multiple times. From 2012 to 2015, the export volume of diene was 46115kg, 53798kg, 61970kg, 43560kg, and the export price also decreased from 2013, resulting in an increase in export volume in 2014 compared to 2013, but a decrease in export value. However, due to the special properties of diene, it still maintains a certain fixed market, and the instability of the saponin industry is also a hidden danger to diene.

The biological fermentation method may not completely replace traditional processes, so currently there is still some room for the future development of diene.

Note: This article refers to Yang Shunkai's Science Network blog - Game between Diene Compounds and 4AD