Testosterone
Testosterone is the main sex hormone found in men. It controls male physical features. The testes (testicles) makes testosterone.
Testosterone help to bring on the physical changes that turn a boy into man. This time of life is called puberty. The changes include:
- strong bones and building muscles
- Growth of facial and body air
3.deepening of voice
4.growth of testes
5.getting taller
How does testosterone work?
The brain and pituitary gland, a small gland at the base of the brain, control production of testosterone by the testes. From there, testosterone moves through our blood to do its work.
Our testosterone levels changes from hour to hour. They tend to be highest in morning and lowest at night. Testosterone levels are highest at age of 20 to 30 and slowly goes down after age 30 to 35.
Structure:
Testosterone -C19H28O2
Melting point is 155 degrees Celsius then (alpha)sub D is +109degree
Preparation:
The preparation of testosterone establishes the structure of this hormone which had been shown to contain one hydroxyl group and alpha, beta – unsaturated ketone group
Another method:
In this process dehydrodepiandrosterone is converted into testosterone by means of micro-organism; the first stage uses an oxidising yeast in the presence of oxygen and the second stage is the fermenting yeast.
⚫ The sodium borohydride selectively reduces the 3 – keto group in the presence of others at 11,12,17 or 20. On the other hand if there. is a double bond in position 4,5 then the keto group at 17 or 20 is preferentially reduced to that of 3? Thus, androst-4-ene-3, 17 Dione is reduced to testosterone by sodium borohydride.
⚫ The stereochemistry of testosterone, except for the configuration of the hydroxyl group at C-17, is established by its preparation from cholesterol. The C-17 hydroxyl group was shown to have the beta-configuration of molecular rotation measurements and by the examination of the rates of hydrolysis of various testosterone esters.
Conclusion:
Many commercial preparations are now been carried out by means of microbiological transformation. The more important one is steroid chemistry include oxidations (oxidations of alcohols, hydroxylation, epoxidation, dehydrogenation); reductions (Carbonyl to Hydroxyl, saturation of an ethylenic double bond); esterification and hydrolysis; isomerisations; resoultion of (+) or (-) modification.
by:
Jayanth. U,
B.Tech chemical engineering 2nd year
Chemnation 
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