According to the X-ray diffraction and NMR data, two D-homo-B-nor-8α-analogs of steroidal estrogens in crystal and in solution have similar conformations. The distances between hydrogen atoms in their molecules, calculated ab initio and by the PM3 and MM + methods, correspond to those found experimentally. These results substantiated docking of the modified estrogens into ligand-binding pockets of various estrogen receptor isoforms with a view to search for compounds with improved biological properties. This was demonstrated using 17,17-dimethyl-D-homo-B-nor-8α-estrone as an example.Total syntheses of modified analogs of steroidal estrogens with cis-junction of the B and C rings, which exhibit improved biological properties, include at least 10-15 steps [1]. Therefore, the possibility of predicting at least some properties of the targeted compounds is important. In the present article we propose a new approach to preliminary estimation of hormonal activity of D-homo-B-nor-8α analogs of steroidal estrogens mediated by the corresponding nuclear receptors.It is known that B-nor-8α analogs of steroidal estrogens exhibit much weaker uterotropic activity than do steroids with six-membered B ring [1]. On the other hand, they can retain other biological properties intrinsic to natural hormones. For example, 16,16-dimethyl-D-homo-B-nor-8α-estrone shows immune-suppressing activity, whereas uterotropic action is absent [1]. These data indicate that further experimental studies on such estrogen analogs may be promising. Modified steroidal estrogens possessing the above properties are almost unknown [2]; therefore, information on molecular structure of D-homo-B-nor-8α analogs of steroidal estrogens may be useful in the design of new compounds with changed spectrum of biological activity.In the first step, structural parameters of model compounds in crystal and in solution are usually compared with those calculated by nonempirical and semiempirical methods [3][4][5][6]. As model steroids we selected 16,16-dimethyl-D-homo-B-nor-8α-estrone methyl ether (I) for which X-ray diffraction data are available [1] and 1-methoxy-4-methyl-D-homo-B-nor-8α-estra-1,3,5(10)-trien-17a-one (II), taking into account that representatives of this stereochemical series with substituents on C 1 and C 4 were not reported.Compound II was synthesized as shown in Scheme 1. The syntheses of intermediate products III-VIII involved no difficulties, and the yields in all steps were consistent with published data for analogous reactions [1,7]. However, catalytic hydrogenation of estrapentaene VIII, followed by oxidation, gave compound II in a yield not exceeding 29%, and factors responsible for the poor yield of II are not clear.The steric structure of steroid II in crystal and in solution was determined by X-ray analysis and NMR spectroscopy, and the experimental data thus obtained were compared with the results of ab initio molecular modeling (6-31G basis set) and semiempirical PM3 and MM + calculations [8]. According to the X-ray dif-