A short, practical, multigram-scale synthesis of C3α-NHAlloc, C12α-NHBoc-diamino-5β-cholan-24-oic acid 2 was developed, applying a new, straightforward synthetic strategy. Key features are the conservation of the carboxyl moiety at C24 during oxime reduction, the late differentiation between the C3 and C12 amino groups and the gradual separa-
IntroductionThe steroid core has proven to be a versatile building block for the design of frameworks capable of ionic [1] and molecular recognition, [2] the preparation of antimicrobial agents [3] and novel amphiphiles. [4] Bile acid based systems can be further important in the understanding of the functioning of natural systems. Moreover, steroids have found extensive application as scaffold for the assembly of combinatorial libraries.[5] Therefore research on bile acids, their derivatives and potential applications is actively pursued. [6] In order to attain these goals and to broaden the plethora of possible applications, a fast, easy and efficient access to these steroid building blocks is needed. Our earlier efforts in the area concerned the construction of heterodipodal peptidosteroid libraries of potential serine protease mimics and were based on the use of the C3α-NHAlloc-, C7α-OAc-, C12α-NHBoc-protected diamino steroid scaffold 1 (Figure 1). The synthesis of suitable quantities of scaffold starting material was a difficult and time-consuming task.[7] Starting [a]