[Studies on solvolysis of dehydroepiandrosterone and androsterone sulfate].

Although heated strong acid hydrolysis has been generally adopted as the routine procedure for the hydrolysis of urinary steroids, it has disadvantages such as the destruction of the steroids, the production of artifacts, and the remarkable changes of the pattern of the fractionation. As for the glucuronide types of the urinary steroids, the .-glucuronidase method can now be used instead of this acid hydrolysis, and the results obtained are almost satisfactory. As for the sulfate types, no such suitable alternative has been reported. The authors attempted to establish a suitable procedure for this purpose, utilizing the sodium sulfates of dehydroepiandrosterone (DEAS) and androsterone (AS) as the substrates, and changing the conditions of solvolysis. The results obtained are summarized as follows : Sodium sulfates of DEAS and AS were dissolved in water, and then acidified with 1N H2504. Twenty % (w/v) of sodium chlorideland an equal vol ume of ethyl `acetate (as an organic phase) were added. After vigorous shaking, incubated at 35°C for 43 hours. The rates of hydrolysis were found to be 100% for DEAS and 93% for AS.