Process for producing 16-substituted prostaglandines

Abstract

A novel process for manufacturing 16-substituted .DELTA..sup.7 -prostaglandin Es, which include compounds expressed by the following formula (I), their enanantiomers, or their mixtures of arbitrary mixing ratio, ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 indicates COOR.sup.2, CH.sub.2 OR.sup.3, or COCH.sub.2 OR.sup.3, in which R.sup.2 indicates a hydrogen atom, a substituted or unsubstituted C.sub.1 -C.sub.10 alkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted C.sub.3 -C.sub.10 cycloalkyl group, or a substituted or unsubstituted phenyl group, and R.sup.3 indicates a hydrogen atom, a tri(C.sub.1 -C.sub.7) hydrocarbon silyl group, a group which forms an acetal bond together with the oxygen atom of a hydroxyl group, or a C.sub.2 -C.sub.7 acyl group; R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 are identical or different, each representing a hydrogen atom, a tri(C.sub.1 -C.sub.7) hydrocarbon silyl group, or a group which forms an acetal bond together with the oxygen atom of a hydroxyl group; R.sup.6 indicates a hydrogen atom, a C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl group, or a vinyl group; R.sup.7 indicates a linear or branched C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 alkyl group, an alkyenyl group, or an alkynyl group, which may contain an oxygen atom; a phenyl group, a phenoxy group, or a C.sub.3 - C.sub.10 cycloalkyl group, which may be substituted; or a linear or branched C.sub.1 -C.sub.5 alkyl group which is substituted by a C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkoxy group, a phenyl group, a phenoxy group, or a C.sub.3 -C.sub.10 cycloalkyl group, which may be substituted; and Y indicates CH.sub.2 X or XCH.sub.2, in which X represents an ethylene group, a cis -or trans-vinylene group, or an ethynylene group.