Methanol → (17alpha)-17-Hydroxy-3-oxoandrosta-4,9(11)-diene-17-carbonitrile

Participants

Reaction Steps

Acetone cyanohydrin (5 ml) and sufficient potassium cyanide to adjust the pH to 9.9 is added to a slurry of androst-4,9(11)-dien-3,17-dione (0,5 g), methanol (40 ml) and water (2.5 g) at 40°. The reaction becomes homogeneous followed by precipitation of the product. After 3.5 hours, water (7.5 ml) is added dropwise and the reaction is allowed slowly to stir at 20°-25° overnight. The slurry is cooled on in ice bath, filtered, the solids washed with methanol/water (1/1) and dried under reduced pressure to give the title compound (4.54 g); [α]D (c=1, CHCl3)=+118°; MS=311, 296 and 284 m/e; NMR (CDCl3)=0.97, 1.37, 2.9, 5.5 and 5.70 δ

Provenance & Evidence