Steroid alcohols

Sterols and Cholesterol. Natural sterols are crystalline steroid alcohols containing an aliphatic side chain at C17. Sterols were first... 

The kinetics of formation and hydrolysis of /-C H OCl have been investigated (262). The chemistry of alkyl hypochlorites, /-C H OCl in particular, has been extensively explored (247). /-Butyl hypochlorite reacts with a variety of olefins via a photoinduced radical chain process to give good yields of aUyflc chlorides (263). Steroid alcohols can be oxidized and chlorinated with /-C H OCl to give good yields of ketosteroids and chlorosteroids (264) (see Steroids). /-Butyl hypochlorite is a more satisfactory reagent than HOCl for /V-chlorination of amines (265). Sulfides are oxidized in excellent yields to sulfoxides without concomitant formation of sulfones (266). 2-Amino-1, 4-quinones are rapidly chlorinated at room temperature chlorination occurs specifically at the position adjacent to the amino group (267). Anhydropenicillin is converted almost quantitatively to its 6-methoxy derivative by /-C H OCl in methanol (268). Reaction of unsaturated hydroperoxides with /-C H OCl provides monocyclic and bicycHc chloroalkyl 1,2-dioxolanes. 

When saturated steroidal ketones are reduced in ammonia, an alcohol is usually present to act as a proton donor and high yields of steroidal alcohols are obtained. Under these conditions, reduction probably proceeds by protonation of the radical-anion (or ketyl) (61), which results from a one electron addition to the carbonyl group, followed by addition of a second electron and proton. Barton has proposed that reduction proceeds via protonation of the dianion (62) arising from addition of two electrons to the carbonyl group. This proposal implies that the ketyl (61) undergoes addition of a second electron in preference to undergoing protonation by the... 

An isolated acetoxyl function would be expected to be converted into the alkoxide of the corresponding steroidal alcohol in the course of a metal-ammonia reduction. Curiously, this conversion is not complete, even in the presence of excess metal. When a completely deacetylated product is desired, the crude reduction product is commonly hydrolyzed with alkali. This incomplete reduction of an acetoxyl function does not appear to interfere with a desired reduction elsewhere in a molecule, but the amount of metal to be consumed by the ester must be known in order to calculate the quantity of reducing agent to be used. In several cases, an isolated acetoxyl group appears to consume approximately 2 g-atoms of lithium, even though a portion of the acetate remains unreduced. Presumably, the unchanged acetate escapes reduction because of precipitation of the steroid from solution or because of conversion of the acetate function to its lithium enolate by lithium amide. 

The oxidation of a hydroxyl group by an aluminum alkoxide-catalyzed hydrogen exchange with a receptor carbonyl compound is known as the Oppenauer oxidation. For oxidation of steroidal alcohols the reaction is generally... 

The use of dimethyl sulfoxide-acetic anhydride as a reagent for the oxidation of unhindered steroidal alcohols does not appear to be as promising due to extensive formation of by-products. However, the reagent is sufficiently reactive to oxidize the hindered 11 j -hydroxyl group to the 11-ketone in moderate yield. The use of sulfur trioxide-pyridine complex in dimethyl sulfoxide has also been reported. The results parallel those using DCC-DMSO but reaction times are much shorter and the work-up is more facile since the separation of dicyclohexylurea is not necessary. Allylic alcohols can be oxidized by this procedure without significant side reactions. 

The reactivity of various steroid alcohols decreases in the order primary > secondary (equatorial) > secondary (axial) > tertiary. The only systematic investigation relating to the selective protection of steroidal hydroxyl functions has been carried out with the cathylate (ethyl carbonate) group. Since only equatorial hydroxyl groups form cathylates this ester has been used as a diagnostic tool to elucidate the configuration of secondary alcohols. 

Under mild conditions and in a variety of solvents, tertiary steroid alcohols are inert to the fluoroamine. At elevated temperatures, however, they afford exclusively, and in high yield, products resulting from dehydration with or without rearrangement. Thus, 17a-methyltestosterone (10) furnishes in 42% yield the 18-norsteroid (11). 

Although such alkoxides have never been isolated it is assumed that with bulky alcohols such as steroidal alcohols, the main contributing structure in such an equilibrium (especially when excess lead tetraacetate is present) is the one in which n = 1. An advantage of this procedure held in common with the hypoiodite reaction is the fact that the alcohol derivative is formed in situ. Intermolecular hydrogen abstraction e.g., reaction with solvent)... 

Dimethyl sulfoxide reacts with trifluoroacetic anhydride at low tempera ture to give a complex that is an efficient reagent for the oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds [40 41] This reagent can be used to oxidize primary and secondary aliphatic alcohols, cycloalkyl alcohols, and allylic, homoallylic, ben-zylic, acetylenic, and steroidal alcohols (equation 19)... 

Pentafluorobenzyl bromide has been used in the derivatization of mercaptans [55] and phenols [36], m the analysis of prostaglandins [37], and in quantitative GC-MS [5S] 1,3 Dichlorotetrafluoroacetone is used for the derivatization of amino acids to the corresponding cyclic oxazolidinones and allows the rapid analysis of all 20 protein ammo acids [d] Pentafluorophenyldialkylchlorosilane derivatives have facilitated the gas chromatographic analysis of a wide range of functionally substituted organic compounds, including steroids, alcohols, phenols, amines, carboxylic acids, and chlorohydrms [4]... 

Treatment of a steroidal alcohol with perfluorotoluene [NaOH, (n-Bu)4N HS04, CH2CI2, 79%] gives the ether, which can be cleaved in 82% yield with NaOMe/DMF. ... 

Alcohol derivatives of saturated cyclic hydrocarbons Steroid alcohols (e.g., cholesterol)... 

Corticosteroids are hormones secreted from the adrenal cortex. These hormones arise from the cortex of the adrenal gland and are made from the crystalline steroid alcohol cholesterol. Synthetic forms of the natural adrenal cortical hormones are available The potent antiinflammatory action of the corticosteroids makes these drugs useful in the treatment of many types of musculoskeletal disorders. The corticosteroids are discussed in Chapter 50. 

Sulfotransferases catalyze the transfer of sulfate from PAPS to wide-range xenobiotics that possess hydroxyl groups. Steroid alcohols are among the endogenous substrates. The sulfotransferases exist in different forms. 

Non-conjugated double bonds have been successfully generated in steroid alcohols with AT, Ar -sulfmyldiimidazole.[26]... 

The nickel hydroxide electrode resembles in its applications and selectivity the chemical oxidant nickel peroxide. The nickel hydroxide electrode is, however, cheaper, easy to use and in scale-up, and produces no second streams/ waste- and by-products [196], Nickelhydroxide electrode has been applied to the oxidation of primary alcohols to acids or aldehydes, of secondary alcohols to ketones, as well as in the selective oxidation of steroid alcohols, cleavage of vicinal diols, in the oxidation of y-ketocarboxylic acids, of primary amines to nitriles, of 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol to 2,2, 6,6 -tetra-rert-butyldiphenoquinone, of 2-(benzylideneamino)-phenols to 2-phenyloxazols, of 1,1-dialkylhydrazines to tetraalkyltetrazenes. For details the reader is referred to Ref. [195]. 

Per-O-acylated glycosyl iodides are stable at room temperature and can be purified on a silica gel column and stored at 0 °C. Stachulski and coworkers [202] synthesized methyl 2,3,4-tri-O-pivaloyl-glucopyranuroate iodide, which is a stable solid at 20 °C and can be stored for months at room temperature or for more than a year at 0 °C. The X-ray crystal structure of this compound, the first one of this class, shows a typical chair structure. Importantly, such a disarmed and stable iodide can be coupled with primary and secondary steroidal alcohols using I2 as a promoter, as demonstrated by the synthesis of morphine-6-glucuronide, an analgesic [202], The glycosyl donor ability... 

The sulfoxide method was introduced by Kahne and coworkers,1 and was heralded as a new method for rapid glycosylation of unreactive substrates in high yield under mild conditions. The reaction involves the sulfoxide donor [sulfoxide (I)], an activating agent (usually triflic anhydride), a hindered, nonnucleophilic base (2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-mcthylpyridine, DTBMP) and a nucleophilic acceptor (most often an alcohol) (Scheme 3.1). The glycosylation of sterically hindered steroidal alcohols, phenols and the /V-glycosylation of an acetamide was reported (Table 3.1). 

Several tissues of the body are able to synthesize cholesterol de novo (i.e. from its raw materials) the liver is one of these organs. Structurally, cholesterol belongs to the group of compounds called sterols (steroid alcohols) and is derived metabolically from acetate... 

Tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) has been shown to be a mild catalyst, which possessed some stereoselectivity, for the hydrolysis of the esters of steroidal alcohols. For example, 3/3, b/S-diacetoxy-Sa-hydroxyandrostan-n-one (12a), when treated with TCNE in toluene-methanol (1 1) at 50 °C for 8h, yielded the 3/3-hydroxy compound (12b), the 6/3-acetoxy group having survived unscathed. ... 

Saponins occur in Liliaceae such as asparagus, in legumes, spinach, and yams. They are triterpenoid glycosides with soap-like properties. Many are glycosides of steroid alcohols, and all have a bitter taste. Two types are... 

Common to all of the steroids is a molecular core structure consisting of four saturated rings, known as gonane. At the end of the steroid core, many steroids also carry a side chain, as seen in cholestane, the basic component of the sterols (steroid alcohols). 

Sterols are steroid alcohols. They have a P-positioned hydroxyl group at C-3 and one or more double bonds in ring B and in the side chain. There are no further oxygen functions, as in the carbonyl and carboxyl groups. 

The system RuCl3/Na(Br03)/aq. M Na COj [213] converted diols to acids while TPAP/NMO/PMS/CH3CN oxidised diols to lactones [119] TPAP/NMO/PMS/ CH3CI2 was used for diol to dione conversion for sensitive steroidal alcohols [503]. The reagent TPAP/NMO/PMS/CH Cl oxidised primary-secondary 1,4- and 1,5-diols to lactones (Fig. 2.19) [481]. 

Glucocorticoids are available in a wide range of preparations, so that they can be administered parenterally, orally, topically, or by inhalation. Obviously the oral route is preferred for prolonged therapy. However, parenteral administration is required in certain circumstances. Intramuscular injection of a water-soluble ester (phosphate or succinate) formed by esterification of the C21 steroid alcohol produces peak plasma steroid levels within 1 hour. Such preparations are useful in emergencies. By contrast, acetate and tertiary butylacetate esters must be injected locally as suspensions and are slowly absorbed from the injection site, which prolongs their effectiveness to approximately 8 hours. 

Aliphatic primary and secondary alcohols have been found105 to react with N,N -dicyclohexyl-N-methylcarbodiimidium iodide (55), in tetrahydrofuran, benzene, or hexane at 35-50°, to give the corresponding iodides in high yields the reagent 55 is prepared by heating a mixture of N,N -dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and methyl iodide. The iodination reaction has been extended to steroidal alcohols, but attempts with carbohydrate substrates have not yet been reported. 

The all-tra 5 -squalene (C30H50), discovered in shark liver oil in the 1920s, is a triterpene, but one in which the isoprene rule at violated in one point. Rather than a head-to-tail arrangement of six units of isoprene, there appear to be farnesyl units that have been connected tail to tail. Almost aU steroids are biosynthesized from cholesterol. Cholesterol is biosynthesized from squalene, which is first converted to lanosterol. The conversion of squalene to the steroid skeleton is an oxirane, squalene-2,3-oxide, which is transformed by enzymes into lanosterol, a steroid alcohol naturally found in wool fat. The whole process is highly stereoselective. 

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