Epoxidation and reduction of cholesterol, 1,4,6-cholestatrien-3-one, and 4,6- cholestadien-3\ulcorner-ol

Many naturally occurring polyhydroxylated sterols and oxysterols exhibit potent biologic activities. The role of oxycholesterol including 2, 5(R)-2, 6-hydroxycholesterol is a potent inhibitor of cholesterol biosynthesis in vitro as it is an effective inhibitor of HMG-Coa reductase. Some new polyhydroxylated sterols were showed potent cytotoxicity to cancer cells. And it has also been chown to be an inhibitor of DNA synthesis, In order to synthesize the various oxy derivatives, we tried to positionselective and reagentselective epoxidation and reduction of cholesterol derivatives. (omitted)