The anodic oxidation of cholesterol yields 30,3'P-(methy1enedioxy)-dicholest-5-ene. A new method for the preparation of methoxymethyl ethers of steroids is described. The n.m.r. and mass spectra of these compounds is reported.L'oxydation anodique du cholesterol conduit au (methyltnedioxy)-3B,3'P dicholestene-5. On decrit une nouvelle methode pour la preparation des ethers methoxymtthyles des steroides. On rapporte les spectres de r.m.n. et de masse de ces composes.Canadian Journal of Chemistry, 49, 2418 (1971) In order to confirm the identity of the main anodic oxidation product of choiesterol in aqueous acidic methanol as 3P,3'P-(methylenedioxy)-dicholest-5-ene (1) direct comparison with an authentic specimen was necessary.Compound 1 was prepared by reaction of cholesterol and chloromethyl methyl ether in the presence of sodium hydride (1) and shown to be identical in all resDects with the anodic oxidation product. Reaction of 5a-cholestan-3P-01 under the same conditions however gave a mixture of 3P,3'P-(rnethylenedioxy)-5a-~holestane (2) and 3P-(methoxymethoxy)-5a-cholestane (3) in poor yield.As an alternative method for preparing compound 1, the reaction of cholesterol and dimethoxymethane in the presence of acidic catalysts was investigated. The product thus obtained was 3P-(methoxymethoxy)-cholest-5-ene (4), the structure of which was confirmed by its n.m.r. (Table 1) and mass spectra (see below). This method was also used to prepare compound 3 and seems of general applicability. Methoxymethyl ethers have also been prepared by Kupchan et al. (I) by a modification of the method employing chloromethyl methyl ether.The mass spectrum of compound 1 differs from that of cholesterol only in the greater abundance of the ions mle 368 and 353 relative to 386 (the molecular ion of cholesterol). Higher mass ions cannot be detected and no metastable transition can be found in the first field-free region of the spectrometer (2) for the decomposition of the parent molecular ion ( M + , mle 784) to either 386 or 368. Evidently a very ready fragmentation, either thermal or electron impact induced, results in the formation of the molecular ions of cholesterol and cholestadiene. The mass spectrum of 3P-(methoxymethoxy)-cholest-5-ene (4) is also very similar to that of cholesterol and shows no parent molecular ion (mle 430). Higher mass ions are very weak in the spectrum of compound 2 but the decomposition 788 ( M + ) -t 402 can be detected in the first field-free region. The latter together with a fairly intense ion at mle 386 suggests a fragmentation producing (nominally) the molecular ion of methoxycholestane and of cholestanone. The mass spectrum of 3P-(methoxymethoxy)-5a-cholestane is remarkable. The molecular ion (mle 432) is one of the strongest in the spectrum while another (370) is derived from it by loss of methoxymethanol. Such an intense molecular ion appears to be 'Revision received March 30, 1971. without precedent for an acetal(3).' ' Can. J. Chem. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by 54.201.150.21 ...