Oxidative 10-membered ring expansion and contraction of stereoisomeric 1(10)-unsaturated and 1,10-epoxy-5-oxo-5,10-secosteroids induced by peracids

The present study is concerned with the oxidative behaviour of unsaturated and epoxy 5-oxo-5,10-secosteroids in the presence of m-CPBA or TFAA-UHP as oxidants in order to investigate potential parameters controlling the chemoselectivity and regioselectivity. In the study we discovered a striking difference in the chemical behaviour of stereoisomeric compounds, (Z)- and (E)-3β-acetoxy-5,10-secocholest-1(10)-en-5-ones, as well as 1S,10R- and 1R,10R-epoxides. The secoketones were oxidized with exclusively C-6 migration and Baeyer–Villiger rearrangement product formation, whereas their stereoisomers provided the ring-contracted products, without lactone formation. The preferred conformation of expanded and contracted rings was established by NOESY correlations. The structures of two obtained lactones were also confirmed by X-ray analysis. The mechanistic and stereochemical aspects of these transformations are discussed.