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Crinosterol: a Unique Sterol from a Comatulid Crinoid

Abstract

THE discussion of the ancestry of the sea-stars1,2 has prompted me to review work I did some 15 years ago3 on a biochemical aspect of the problem4,5. In that work I isolated from a species of Comatula (a crinoid) a sterol of unique properties, and believed it to be unknown at that time; I assigned it the name crinosterol5. These results have not, however, been published until now because the structure deduced from physical properties was the same as that accepted for a known sterol, chalinasterol, and the conflict could not be resolved. Since then, the structure of chalinasterol has been reformulated, and established as 24-methylenecholesterol6. Thus it is now possible to suggest that crinosterol has the structure originally proposed.

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References

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BOLKER, H. Crinosterol: a Unique Sterol from a Comatulid Crinoid. Nature 213, 905–906 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/213905a0

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