Manchester NMR Methodology Group

Ab initio proton and C-13 NMR assignments for a stereoisomeric pair of 5 beta steroidal salpogenins, smilagenin (1) and sarsasapogenin (2), were accomplished using DEFT, COSY, TOCSY, HETCOR, HMQC, HMQC-TOCSY, HSQC-RELAY, HMBC and selective reverse INEPT techniques; the C-13 NMR assignments for 2 were confirmed using 2D INADEQUATE experiments. This work corrects earlier C-13 assignments for 1 and 2 proposed by Eggert and Djerassi. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.