摘要:
Five unsaturated sterols relevant to the Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome have been prepared in high radiochemical purity with a tritium label at the 3 alpha position. Swern oxidation of cholesta-5,8-dien-3 beta-ol and other unlabeled C-27 sterols afforded the corresponding 3-ketosteroids, and reduction with tritiated NaBH4 gave the desired 3 alpha-H-3 sterols, with double bonds at the Delta(5,8), Delta(5,8(14)), Delta(6,8), Delta(6,8(14)), and Delta(8) positions. High radiochemical purity of the tritiated sterols was demonstrated by normal phase, reversed phase, and silver-ion (Ag+) high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In the course of this work, we developed a medium-pressure variant of Ag+-HPLC for purifying radiolabeled samples, documented significant isotopic fractionation of the 3 alpha-tritiated sterols and their acetates on Ag+-HPLC, and discovered unexpected effects of a Delta(8(14)) bond on the conformation of 3-keto-Delta(5)-steroids. The synthetic and analytical methodologies described herein should provide a sound basis for investigating the origin and metabolism of sterols involved in the Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome and in late stages of cholesterol biosynthesis. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.