Design and synthesis of four steroid-oxirane derivatives using some chemical tools

This study involved the synthesis of several new derivatives of progesterone, 11a-hydroxyprogesterone, 11a-t-butyldimethylsilanyloxyprogesterone, and andrenosterone. The new derivatives were prepared by condensation of the 4-en-3-one moiety of the four steroids with 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde to afford a series of 4-(R)-hydroxy-(2-hydroxynaphtalen-1-yl) adducts. These adducts were further modified by cyclization reactions of the dihydroxynaphthalenyl moieties with succinic acid, and the resulting cyclic succinates were then condensed with ethylenediamine to form imine derivatives at all available carbonyl groups. These compounds were then derivatized by N-acylation of the 11- and 17-imine nitrogens with chloroacetyl chloride and the resulting chloroacetamides were then condensed with 2-hydroxy-1-napthaldehyde in Darzens-type reactions forming the corresponding epoxy acetamides in the side chains. In addition, the chemical structure of steroid derivatives was confirmed by NMR spectroscopic data.