Marine Organic Chemistry III. Synthesis of Corticosteroids from Starfish Saponins

Abstract

5α-Pregn-9(11)-en-3β,6α diol-20-one(1) is a major aglycone of the starfish saponins and in 1973 Djerassi reported its multistep transformation into precursors suitable for corticosteroid synthesis². For several years our own studies have focussed on the use of such compounds as commercially useful steroid sources³ and we report here a simple two-step conversion of 1 into pregna 4, 9(11)-diene-3, 20-diene 2 ^4.