Steroid derivatives

The dependence of the course of hydroxylation of steroid compounds substituted differently in positions 16 and 17 was studied, using several economically important 11α-hydroxylating microorganisms. All the steroid substrates used yielded the 11α-hydroxy-derivative as the main product, with the exception of 16β-methyl-16α, 17-oxidoprogesterone, during the biotransformation of which the formation of the 11α-hydroxy-derivative was accompanied by appreciable amount of its 7β,11α-dihydroxyderivative. In the transformation achieved byBeauveria bassiana, the last-named dihydroxy-compound was formed as the main product, whereas the biotransformation carried out with the aid ofBeauveria globulifera yielded the 5-saturated analogue of 7β,11α-dihydroxy-methylepoxyprogesterone as the main product.