Separation Methods Of Plant Steroids And Androstenedione

Steroid hormone drugs are playing a very important role in clinical application.It has become an indispensable drug in the clinic.Most steroid hormones are synthesized by other compounds or steroid compounds,such as ergosterol,androst-4-ene-3,17-dione in two can be used as raw material for the synthesis of steroid hormones.(20S)-21-Hydroxy-20-methylpregn-4-en-3-one can be used as progesterone precursor,and synthesizing progesterone by two-step synthesis.High purity(20S)-21-Hydroxy-20-methylpregn-4-en-3-one has great significance for progesterone synthesis and steroid hormone research.Androstenedione is an irreplaceable key intermediate to produce steroid hormones,and it is also an important steroid hormone.Therefore,it has become the object of many scholars’ further research.This study established a method for androstenedione and(20S)-21-Hydroxy-20-methylpregn-4-en-3-one separation using a macroporous adsorption resin and an ethanol-water mixture as the eluent.The adsorption properties of 12 non-polar or weakly polar macroporous adsorption resins from three different plant were compared;three of them showed high adsorption capacities and gave high desorption rates for both androstenedione and(20S)-21-Hydroxy-20-methylpregn-4-en-3-one.The three resins(HZ-816、HZ-826、HZ-828)were compared using column chromatography,and the chromatographic parameters(flow rate,resin size,ethanol concentration,and volume)of a selected resin were optimized to obtain high purity and recovery.The eluate was concentrated,dissolved in a suitable solvent,and crystallized at the optimal temperature to obtain high-purity androstenedione and(20S)-21-Hydroxy-20-methylpregn-4-en-3-one from the same starting material.The levels of androstenedione and(20S)-21-Hydroxy-20-methylpregn-4-en-3-one in the raw material were 39.78%(w/w)and 19.15%(w/w),respectively.After preparative separation and enrichment using resin column chromatography and crystallization,the androstenedione and(20S)-21-Hydroxy-20-methylpregn-4-en-3-one purities were 94.3%(w/w)and 98.6%(w/w),respectively,with recovery yields of 66.8%and 57.9%,respectively.In addition,the resin maintained good separation efficiency for five adsorption cycles.These results indicate that a combination of macroporous resin chromatography followed by crystallization provides a simple,effective,environmentally friendly,and low-cost method for the simultaneous purification of androstenedione and(20S)-21-Hydroxy-20-methylpregn-4-en-3-one.