A one-pot ethylnylation and catalytic desilylation reaction was developed for the synthesis of mestranol and levonorgestrel. Addition of trimethylsilylacetylide to the carbonyl group at C- 17 of the steroids yielded the C-17α-trimethylsilylacetylenyl adducts, which were desilylated with a catalytic amount of TBAF (0.050 equiv) in one pot to provide the corresponding mestranol and levonorgestrel both in 90% yields. A plausible mechanism was proposed ...
