Synthesis of novel ferrocene labelled steroidal derivatives via palladium-catalysed carbonylation. X-ray structure of 17-(N-(4′-((2-ferrocenyl-ethenyl)-carbonyl)-phenyl)carbamoyl)-5α-androst-16-ene

Homogeneous catalytic carbonylation of some representative steroidal substrates (alkenyl iodides/enol triflates 1–5) has been carried out in the presence of (E)-1-(4′-aminophenyl)-3-ferrocenyl-prop-2-en-1-one (6) as the nucleophile. The products 1a–4a were obtained in moderate to good yield (43–75%) and were characterised with various spectroscopic methods (1H-, 13C NMR, IR, MS). The solid state structure of 17-(N-(4′-((2-ferrocenyl-ethenyl)-carbonyl)-phenyl)-carbamoyl)-5α-androst-16-ene (1a) has also been determined by X-ray crystallography.