Natural testosterone and numerous synthetic analogs are known to stimulate biosynthesis of proteins and are used as therapeutic agents. Most of them are DEA controlled substances. Improper use may cause health risks. Steroid abuse is a widespread problem. There is a practical need to screen for abused steroids. Testosterone glucuronide and epitestosterone glucuronide may be used in the area of drug screening to establish a protocol which will be simpler, faster and more reliable than the present method which requires an enzymatic hydrolysis step. This project will explore the chemical synthesis of epitestosterone glucuronide. The synthesis will include a.) preparation of the proper protected glucuronic acids; b.) coupling reaction between epitestosterone and protected glucuronic acids; and c.) conversion of coupling compounds into epitestosterone glucuronide. The success of this research will provide a new commercial product for forensic chemistry and lead to the establishment of a new testing method which will have obvious advantages over the present method. The knowledge which is gained from the execution of this research will be useful for the synthesis of other steroid glucuronides.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:If the synthesis is successful and the glucuronide is available, the company will license an established clinical/pharmaceuticalcompany to pursue further evaluation, structure-activity studies, antibody development for rapid in vivo detection, and marketing of the product for production of therapeutic drug monitoring controls.National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
