Hydrogen Bonds between Sexual Hormones and Nucleobases: NMR Investigations *§
Abstract The hydrogen-bonded complexes of 17 α-ethinyl-estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone with adenine- and uracil-derivatives have been investigated by means of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy using deutero-chloroform as a solvent. The thermodynamic and NMR-parameters (equilibrium constant K, enthalpy ΔH, entropy ΔS, and relative chemical shift of the complexes ΔδC) for selfassociation and mixed association have been determined. The strongest complex was formed by the phenolic hydroxyl group of estradiol with dimethyl-adenine (K = 14 mole- 1 , - ΔH = i kcal/mole, - ΔS = 8 cal/m ole-grad). The values were considerably less for the OH-17 group of estradiol and testosterone. The interaction of the keto groups of progesterone and testo sterone with nucleobases was very weak: K < 1 .0 mole- 1 . The biological importance of these results is discussed.