Mechanism of estrogen biosynthesis. Stereochemistry of C-1 hydrogen elimination in the aromatization of 2 beta-hydroxy-19-oxoandrostenedione.

19-Hydroxy[1 alpha-3H]androstenedione was synthesized and its specific activity was accurately determined. Upon aromatization of the above material by placental microsomal aromatase preparation, a process involving 1 beta hydrogen elimination, only 7.4% of the isotope was lost establishing the alpha orientation of the 3H at C-1 in the substrate. The 19-hydroxy[1 alpha]3H]androstenedione was used as the starting material in the synthesis of 2 beta-hydroxy-19-oxo[1 alpha-3H]androstenedione which therefore had the same specific activity and isotope orientation as its precursor. The nonenzymatic collapse of 2 beta-hydroxy-19-oxo[1 alpha-3H]androstenedione in pH 7.1 buffer to estrone was associated with the elimination of only 2.6% of the isotope indicating that this process proceeds also with stereospecific 1 beta hydrogen elimination. The stereochemistry of hydrogen loss in the nonenzymatic aromatization of the 2 beta-hydroxy-19-oxo derivative is therefore beta and identical with that of estrogen biosynthesis. This provides further evidence in support of the hypothesis that the final enzymatic hydroxylation of the aromatization sequence takes place at position 2 beta of the androgen substrate and that its product, the 2 beta-hydroxy-19-aldehyde, is the proximate precursor of estrogen with the final conversion occurring nonenzymatically.