17β-Hydroxyestra-4,9,11-trien-3-one or trenbolone is an anabolic steroid used in some meat producing countries where its use is licenced. In cattle it is metabolised into 17α-trenbolone. We were required to make 17α-[4-(14) C]trenbolone for use in environmental fate studies. At the same time we also had a request to make 17α-[4-(14) C]estradiol so we combined the two syntheses and made use of the synergy to allow us to make a batch of 17α-[4-(14) C]estradiol by known methodology and then elaborate a portion of this into 17α-[4-(14) C]trenbolone. The synthesis of 17α-[4-(14) C]trenbolone from 17α-[4-(14) C]estradiol was achieved in 8 steps and 3.1% overall yield to give material with a radiochemical purity of 99.5% and specific activity of 59 mCi/mmol.
Keywords: 17α-[4-14C]estradiol; 17α-[4-14C]trenbolone; steroids; trenbolone.
Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.