| Abstract: | Successive treatment of 5α-cholestan-3-one ( 1 ) with O2 under basic conditions and then NaBH4 led to 5α-3-oxa-cholestan-2-one ( 5 ). Analogous reactions with 5β-cholestan-3-one ( 6 ) yielded 5α-4-oxa-cholestan-3-one ( 7 ) and 5 ξ-3-oxa-cholestan-4-one ( 8 ). 4-Cholesten-2-one ( 10 ), which was prepared starting from 4-cholesten-3-one, was isomerized by methanolic KOH to give a mixture of 5α-cholest-3-en-2-one ( 11 ) and 5β-cholest-3-en-2-one ( 12 ). 5β-Cholestane-2,3-dione ( 17 ) was synthesized from 4β-bromo-5β-cholestan-3-one ( 13 ). Ozonolysis of the dione 17 and subsequent NaBH4 reduction of the oxidation product gave both 5β-2-oxa-cholestan-3-one ( 18 ) and 5β-3-oxa-cholestan-2-one ( 19 ). |
