Methyl lithocholate (1), a bile acid derivative which contains a rigid steroid part as well as a flexible side chain, has been used as the starting material for the convenient synthesis of 3α-chlorinated methyl lithocholate, 3α-chloro-5β-cholan-24-oic acid methyl ester (2), and three other chlorinated derivatives, 3α-chloro-5β-cholan-24-ol (3), 3α-chloro-5β-cholan-24-yl tosylate (4) and ethyl (3α-chloro-5β-cholan)-24-yl oxalate (5). The identity of all these synthesised steroidal molecules (2–5) has been determined by spectroscopic analyses.
