Insect Moulting Hormones: The Synthesis of Possible Ecdysone Precursors for Metabolic Studies

Abstract

The possible biological precursors of ecdysones, 3β-hydroxy-5β-cholest-7-en-6-one (2) and 3β,14α-dihydroxy-5β-cholest-7-en-6-one (3), are prepared from 7-dehydrocholesterol through their 5α-epimers.The corresponding 3α-[³H] derivatives of high specific activity are prepared in a similar way via 5α-cholest-7-ene-3β,6α-diol[3α-³H] 6-acetate which is obtained by reducing the corresponding 3-keto derivative with sodium borotritide.