IDENTIFICATION OF Δ4-PREGNENE-11β,20β,21-TRIOL-3-ONE IN URINE EXTRACT AFTER ADMINISTRATION OF 11-DEHYDROCORTICOSTERONE ACETATE*

Abstract

A 36-hour collection of urine from a woman with severe hypopituitarism given 200 mg of 11-dehydrocorticosterone acetate each day for 2 days, was submitted to hydrolysis with glucuronidase and acid. Extraction with chloroform and separation of steroid metabolites by paper chromatographic techniques resulted in the isolation of approximately 750 [mu] g of a non-alpha-ketolic ultraviolet light-absorbing substance. It was identified as [delta] 4-pregnene-11[beta],20[beta],21-triol-3-one by comparison with a reference standard supplied by Dr. Karl Pfister, Merck and Co. The following characteristics were examined: running rates on paper in 3 solvent systems as the free compound and in 2 systems as its acetate and after oxidation of the diacetates; fluorescence in H2SO4; spectrometry in H2SO4; soda fluorescence test of Bush; absorption maxima in ethanol; KIO4-benzidine test of Cifonelli and Smith; and infrared spectrometry.