A novel method for the synthesis of maxacalcitol.

Maxacalcitol ( 1), a kind of active vitamin D drugs, was prepared from pregnenolone acetate ( 2) using a novel synthetic method including the combination of five-step organic transformations and one-step biological transformation. The new protocol was shorter, milder, and simpler than the reported approaches. The unoptimized overall yield was 0.178%. The structure of all intermediates and final product was confirmed by H NMR, C NMR and MS techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]