Studies on the synthesis of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) phosphatide

Synthetic dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) phosphatide 1c, (R = C15H31), was prepared by three methods. The most efficient of these involved the coupling of the commercially available DHEA 1a and commercially available phosphatidic acid 2, via mesitylene sulfonyl chloride and pyridine. Alternatively, DHEA-3-phosphate 1b was coupled with dipalmitoyl glycerol 3 in the same way. The third synthesis gave 1c by coupling DHEA with the cyclic phosphotriester 4 followed by deblocking.