Dehydroepiandrosterone → 7-Oxodehydroepiandrosterone 3-acetate

Participants

Reaction Steps

DHEA-Ac (2, 1.1 gm., 0.0033 mol.) was dissolved in a mixture of 1,2-dichloroethane (10 ml) and tert-butyl hydroperoxide (70% aqueous solution from Aldrich, 3.0 ml, 0.023 mol). The mixture was stirred at room temperature and solid calcium hypochlorite (0.65 gm.) was added in very small portions over a period of seven hours. The aqueous layer was then separated and the organic layer was stirred with sodium sulfite solution (3.0 gm in 10 ml of water) for 3 hours at 40-45° C. and filtered over a small bed of celite. The aqueous yellow layer was removed and the organic layer was washed with half saturated brine, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, and the solvent was evaporated on a rotary evaporator. The crude product was crystallized from methanol, afforded 3β-acetoxyandrost-5-en-7,17-dione (3) as a white solid, weight 0.38 gm.

Provenance & Evidence