Formation of an Antirachitic Product from Cholesteryl Sulfates

Abstract

This communication deals with a report of some of the conditions under which an antirachitically active product is obtained from some of the new cholesteryl sulfates recently prepared. 1

Eck and Thomas reported the formation of an antirachitic product on heating ammonium or potassium cholesteryl sulfate at 220°-250° for 30 minutes. The yields were low, approximately 0.09 I.U. per mg of the ether extract of the heated product. 2 At first the conditions of Eck and Thomas were repeated with slight modifications using the newly prepared barium, pyridonium, silver, as well as the previously known potassium cholesteryl sulfate. 3 , 4 The results are presented in Table I. The yield of antirachitically active product (in terms of international rat units) was much higher in the case of the barium, pyridonium, and silver salts than in the case of the potassium salt. Our potassium salt gave a lower activity than that reported by Eck and Thomas, but of the same order of magnitude. When any of the salts were heated at their respective decomposition temperatures, no antirachitically active products were obtained.

In the next experiment the salts were suspended in tetralin and oxygen bubbled through. Under the conditions stated in Table I, the barium cholesteryl sulfate gave an antirachitically active product. All the other salts were negative in the amounts tested. When air was substituted for oxygen, none of the salts yielded an active fraction.

Since we desired to study further the effect of oxygen on antirachitic activation, the barium, pyridonium, and silver salts were heated at 250° in an evacuated tube. The results are tabulated in Table I. Both the barium and silver salts gave a positive result. The pyridonium and potassium salts were inactive on repeated attempts.