No, the answer to the question I am talking about is
not“Don’t pay her.” I am talking about making active
anabolic steroids from readily available prohormones. Actually, this is not something I would normally write about, but I had writer’s block this month and John Romano said this sort of thing would be something he would be interested in reading. So I thought I would delve into it a little. I have to warn you though, unless you have a background in steroid chemistry, this is not gonna make much sense to you.
As you know, prohormones are metabolic precur- sors to active hormones, which are converted through the action of enzymes in your body. But these same prohormones can also be converted to the active hor- mones synthetically— that is, by the use of chemicals in a lab. In particular, diols and diones can be made into their corresponding active hormones by proce- dures that are actually remarkably simple.
Diols
The most basic diol is 4-androstenediol. However, it is now illegal. There are still some diols out there, though. On the following page is a list containing 4- androstenediol and some other still legal diols.
www.musculardevelopment.com March 2009
344
MDPATRICK ARNOLD
www.musculardevelopment.com March 2009
346
MDPATRICK ARNOLD
If you look closely, you will see that all these diols have double bonds in the first ring that are one carbon atom away from the 3-hydroxyl.The hydrox- yl at carbon 17, however, does not have this feature. We can use this dif- ference to our advantage and perform what is known as an ‘allylic oxidation.’
Allylic oxidations can be done using a variety of different chemical reagents; however, activated man- ganese dioxide is the most conve- nient one to use. What this chemical does is oxidize the hydroxyl at car- bon 3 to a ketone, while leaving the 17 beta-hydroxyl unaffected. This leaves you with the classic ‘3-one- 17b-ol’ structure that most active anabolic steroids possess.
The procedure is simple.You dis- solve the steroid (let’s say 5 grams) in an appropriate organic solvent (let’s say 250cc of acetone) and then add about six times its weight in activated manganese dioxide. It is important that you use activated manganese dioxide because regular manganese dioxide won’t work.The activated manganese dioxide will not dissolve, but rather it will sink to the bottom. You must then mix the slurry for sev-
eral hours (say 6-8 hours). After you are done, you filter off the manganese dioxide, or let it settle out and decant the clear layer.This clear layer will contain your active steroid in acetone and you can retrieve it either by slow- ly evaporating off the acetone, or by adding about five parts water and pre- cipitating the steroid out.The precipi- tated steroid can then be filtered off and dried.
Examples of this reaction are the conversion of 4-androstenediol to testosterone, the conversion of 17a- methyl-1,4-Androstadien-3b,17bdiol to dianabol, and the conversion of 4- chloro-17a-methyl-androsta-1,4-dien- 3b-17b-diol to oral Turinabol.
Please don’t forget the fact that as soon as you are done with this chemical procedure, you have a con- trolled substance on your hand and you are therefore committing a felony. It is for this reason that I must remind you now that this is all being presented to you for purely informa- tional and entertainment purposes.
Next month I will continue the chemical information and entertain- ment by discussing the chemical
conversion of diones. C’ya! !
It
is truly amazing how time flies, isn’t it? I feel like the 2008 Arnold Classic (ASC) weekend just ended, and here we are gearing up for the 2009 extravagan- za! While I do not want to take up my entire column (Steve! More room, please!) on this topic, I do feel com- pelled to share my thoughts on The Governator’s classic competition. There is only one problem, however. At the time of this writing, I am not exactly sure who is confirmed to compete. I do know Dexter, Phil, Dennis, Lee, Melvin and Jay will not be there, so let me just focus on a few of the top athletes who will more than likely trek to Columbus in order to contest the second-biggest body- building show in existence.Kai Greene— After sitting out the Olympia to heal an injury, Kai is taking his training to a new level in the off- season in order to put it all together for the ASC. Kai has become a true mass monster recently, but it has been at the expense of some of his trade- mark conditioning and a somewhat larger waistline. I feel that if Kai is will- ing to bring his contest weight down just a bit so that he can bring back the definition and dryness he owned at his first pro win, while at the same time combining it with all of the new size he has built onto his frame, he can steal the show in Columbus.
Victor Martinez— I will be so happy to see Vic step back onstage, as he is without a doubt one of the best bodybuilders in the world right
now. In fact, a 100 percent on-his- game Victor Martinez is probably unbeatable at this point in time. The questions are…1) Has his knee fully recovered since his surgery, and 2) Will his time away from the stage help him or hurt him? I am betting we will see a close-to-his-best Victor and a tough fight to the wire between him and Kai.
Toney Freeman— Just when I thought the X-man had reached his full potential, he shows up at the 2008 Olympia at his all-time greatest! Toney has always been known for his wide shoulders, tiny waist and flaring quads, but never truly sharp/dry conditioning. Well, in the Olympia he had it all and managed to grab fifth place, although few would have complained if he were