Progestin 16 alpha, 17 alpha-dioxolane ketals as molecular probes for the progesterone receptor: synthesis, binding affinity, and photochemical evaluation.

Chemical probes for steroid receptors have proven useful in providing molecular details about important hormone-receptor interactions. A series of progestin 16 alpha, 17 alpha-dioxolane ketals of acetophenone or substituted acetophenones that bind to the progesterone receptor (PgR) with comparable or higher affinities than the natural ligand, progesterone, have been prepared and evaluated as potential in vitro and in vivo probes for the progesterone receptor. p-Azidoacetophenone ketal 6, the tetrafluoro analog 8, and the p-(benzoyl)acetophenone ketal 9 demonstrate the required combination of high relative binding affinity (RBA) (6 = 15%, 8 = 14%, 9 = 6.6%, progesterone = 13%, R5020 = 100%) and photoinactivation efficiency (6 = 80%, 8 = 77%, 9 = 29% at 30 min) required for potential photoaffinity labeling reagents for the PgR. The synthesis of azide 6 has been modified to accommodate a palladium-catalyzed tritium gas hydrogenolysis of an iodoaryl precursor in the final stage of the synthetic sequence; this procedure has been verified by hydrogenation. In addition, the progestin p-fluoroacetophenone ketal 10 was selected for preparation in fluorine-18-labeled form, on the basis of its high affinity for the PgR (RBA = 53%). Fluorine-18-labeled progestins may be evaluated as potential diagnostic imaging agents for PgR-positive breast tumors. The radiochemical syntheses and further biochemical results with the fluorine-18-labeled ketal 10 and the tritium-labeled aryl azide 6 will be presented in an accompanying paper and elsewhere.