A Specific Method for the Gas Chromatographic Determination of Aldosterone and Adrenocortical Steriods: Application to Adrenal Venous Blood of Vertebrates

Abstract

This report discusses the preparation of corticosteroid derivatives to facilitate determination of these naturally occurring compounds by GLC. The thermal instability of corticosteroids, and their derivatives which have been studied so far, made it seem unlikely that ester derivatives (acetate, formats, 5-dinitrobenzoates) would survive GLC. In view of the results obtained for steroids of the 21,17α-dihydroxy-20-oxo series, by masking the active hydroxy groups by formation of the bis-methylene dioxy derivative it seemed plausible that ether formation at hydroxylated centers might give products suitable for GLC analysis. The TMS ether derivatives of steroids of all other classes have been successfully determined by GLC methods; consequently corticosteroid derivatives of this type were prepared and their GLC properties studied. The derivatives that were investigated satisfied three basic criteria essential for successful GLC (1) easily prepared with a minimum of chemical manipulation; (2) reasonable stability during thin-layer purification, and (3) stability in subsequent GLC.