X-Ray crystallography and the chemistry of the steroids. Part I

Abstract

A survey has been made of the X-ray crystallography of some eighty sterol derivatives belonging mainly to the cholesterol and ergosterol series but including also calciferol and other photoderivatives of ergosterol and some higher plant and animal sterols. The measurements are recorded in four tables and include determinations of unit cell size, space group and some data on the crystal morphology and optics. In three cases, cholesteryl chloride, bromide and cholesteryl chloride hydrochloride, Patterson projections have also been derived from the intensities of the X-ray reflexions of the hOl planes. These confirm earlier deductions on the shape and size of the sterol molecules, proving that these are roughly lath-shaped, 20 x 7 x 4 A, and the details of the patterns can also to some degree be correlated with the actual arrangement of the carbon atoms in the sterol ring system and with the positions of the chlorine and bromine atoms. The arrangement of the molecules in the crystal units is closely that given by the preliminary examination from the optic orientation, and this has therefore been employed to suggest in each of the remaining sterol crystal structures the probable molecular arrangement