Methods for improved production of vitamins dand d

Abstract

It is an object of the present invention to provide methods for producing vitamin D that gives improved yields and reduced side product contamination. In various aspects, these methods provide for production of vitamin-Dusing ergosterol as provitamin Dor a dihydroxy derivative thereof as a starting material, or production of vitamin-Dusing 7-dehydrocholesterol as provitamin Dor a dihydroxy derivative thereof as the starting material. The methods described herein comprise irradiating the starting material in a solution including an organic or inorganic base with light in the wavelength range 245-360 nanometers (nm) to obtain a product containing pre-vitamin-Dor pre-vitamin-D, and heating the product to convert the resulting pre-vitamin-Dor pre-vitamin-Dto vitamin Dor vitamin D. In various embodiments, these methods further comprise recovering vitamin Dor vitamin Dfrom this reaction as a purified product.