Pflln a previous publication (1) 3,5,14-trihydroxyestrane-10,17-dicarboxylic acid served as an intermediate in the preparation of compounds structurally related to hormones of the pregnane series. The dicarboxylic acid was prepared from strophanthidin (I) according to procedures known from the literature.The stepwise degradation of the unsaturated lactone ring is a time-consuming and uneconomical procedure which, in addition, is associated with an undesired inversion of the configuration at carbon atom 17.Doubts have recently arisen regarding the presently accepted stereochemical structure of strophanthidin.2 Ruzicka (2) states for instance that certain reactions of strophanthidin are not in agreement with the configuration of a derivative of 3(a) ,5-dihydroxycoprostane. Very recent work from the same laboratory (3) supports the assumption that in the normal, naturally-occurring, sterids the side chain at carbon atom 17 is attached in /3-position.2a According to this postulation, the part of ring D in the cardiac aglycons has to be

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