Metabolism of progesterone and testosterone by a Bacillus sp.

Microbial transformations by a Bacillus sp. were employed as a means of preparing potentially important derivatives of progesterone and testosterone. Each microbial metabolite was subjected to structure elucidation employing 1H and 13C nmr, mass spectral and cd analysis. Hplc was used for the determination of the percentages of the metabolites formed. The progesterone metabolites were characterised as 14-hydroxy-4-pregnene-3,20-dione (II), 14-hydroxy-5 alpha -pregnane-3,6,20-trione (III), 11 alpha-hydroxy-5 alpha-pregnane-3, 6,20-trione (IV) and 11 alpha,14-dihydroxy-4-pregnene-3,20-dione (V). The testosterone analogs were identified as 4-androstene-3,17-dione (VII), 17 beta-hydroxy-5 alpha-androstane-3,6-dione (VIII), 14-hydroxy-4-androstene-3,17-dione (IX) and 14, 17 beta-dihydroxy-4-androsten-3-one (X). The availability of the metabolites enabled complete elucidation of their 13C nmr spectra.