Androstane-2,17 -dione synthesis

Various accounts report the synthesis of heterocyclic androstane derivatives. 17)8-Acetoxy-4-oxa-androst-2-ene (215) has been prepared in three steps from the hemiacetal (214). Since various 4-aza-steroids exhibit antimicrobial activity, several new 4-aza-androstanes have been prepared. The reduction of ring a enamine lactams, such as 4-aza-androst-5-ene-3,17-dione (216a), under conditions of the Leuckart-Wallace reductive amination, provided 17/ -(iV-methyl-... 

Many of the organic contaminants which were found in Lippe river water were also present in the source samples (see Table 3). The sewage effluent sample and the Seseke river showed the best accordance with the compound spectrum of the Lippe river. However, also in the two tributaries from the rural upper reaches of the river, numerous specific contaminants like 9-methylacridine (No. 8), alkyl phosphates (Nos. 31, 32) and chlorinated alkyl phosphates (Nos. 34, 36) appeared. In the effluent of a pharmaceutical plant, only a few Lippe river contaminants like n-alkanes (No. 1), naphthalene (No. 3), TXIB (No. 21) and caffeine (No. 67) were detected (see Table 3). Therein, mainly structural relatives of androstanone like 3p-hydroxy-5p-androstan-17-one, 3a-hydroxy-5p-androstan-17-one and androstan-50-3,17-dione were present. These compounds are probably by-products of the synthesis of hormone preparations. Some polycyclic aromatic compounds, halogenated compounds and terpenoids were not detected in the source samples (see the underlined compounds in Table 3) and probably have another origin. Representative sampling of various input sources have to be carried out to prove the origin of these compounds. Hexachlorobutadiene (No. 38) and bis(chloropropyl)ethers (No. 44) appear exclusively at the lower reaches of the Lippe river (see Table 1), downstream the chemical plants in Marl. They are attributed to inputs of the chlorochemical industry (see section 3.1). Hence, this suggests their input by an industrial point source. 

The driving force behind the development of total syntheses for estrane and to some extent gonanes described in Chapters 2 and 3 lay in the then scarce and hence expensive steroid starting materials. The schemes that were developed made possible the elaboration of derivatives not accessible from estrone, such as gonanes with an additional carbon on the angular methyl at C13. Both androstene-17-dione and testosterone have been prepared by total synthesis. The schemes by which that was accomplished, however, were lengthy and complex. Those syntheses mainly represented a tour deforce for chemical synthesis since they were not competitive with sources of androstanes from pregnenolone or by fermentation. 

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