Keywords: 8-aza-D-homogona-12,17a-diones, 12-hydroxyimino derivatives of 1-aza-D-homogona-12,17a-diones, syn-anti isomerism, quantum-mechanical analysis, IR, UV, 1 H NMR, and 13 C NMR spectroscopy, COSY, NOESY, HMBC, HMQC.Studies of the biological properties of 8-azasteroids, in particular, 8-azagona-12,17-diones [1] and 8-aza-D-homogona-12,17a-diones [1-6], have shown that these compounds have immunomodulating properties, affecting the immune systems of higher mammals and humans [2, 3, 6]. Furthermore, Kuz'mitskii et al. [2][3][4] have found that, depending on their structure, these compounds may act as either activators or suppressors of the immune response. This has led us to try to explain the role of structural factors in the direction and level of the observed immunological activity. We have found that oxyimino derivatives of 8-aza-D-homogona-12,17a-diones also display immunological activity [7].In this communication, we present syntheses for 12-hydroxy (2) and 12-methoxy derivatives (3) of 16,16-dimethyl-8-aza-D-homogona-1,3,5(10),13-tetraene-12,17a-dione (1) and the results of IR, UV, and NMR studies to elucidate the steric structure and molecular dynamics of these compounds.The reaction of 8-aza-D-12,17a-dione 1 with hydroxylamine and methoxylamine in ethanol gave 12-oximino derivatives of 8-aza-D-homogonane 2 and 3. Alternatively, 12-oximino derivative 2 was obtained by the reaction of 1 with hydroxylamine hydrochloride with subsequent cleavage of the resultant salt 4 by such bases as NaOH or NaOMe. 12-Methoxyimino derivative 3 was also obtained by the methylation of hydroxyimino derivative 2 using methyl iodide in the presence of sodium methylate. Physicochemical data were obtained for all these compounds, which permit reliable assignment of their structures.
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