Use of borohydride reduction in the separation of estrogen carbonyls.

The chromatographic behavior of the estrogen carbonyls, equilenin, equilin, and estrone, and their respective sodium borohydride reduction products has been studied. The separation of the 17 alpha-hydroxy reduced compounds is superior to the separations achieved for the parent carbonyls using both reversed-phase and normal-phase systems. The reductions appear quantitative by the chromatographic systems used but other work indicates that a small quantity of 17 alpha-hydroxy isomer is produced. The separations developed here have been used in the identification of 9-dehydroestrone, an impurity in estrone, and in the identification of the estrogens in a commercial aqueous suspension of estrogenic substances.