accordance with scheme 2 can also optionally be subjected to base catalyzed hydrolysis or solvolysis to convert r 6 from cn to cooh or conh 2 functional groups can also be introduced at c3 through the michael addition of any nucleophiles to the conjugated double bond between c3 and c4 further the lactone ring in compounds 6 7 15 and 16 can be hydrolyzed into cooh and oh which can in turn undergo intramolecular michael additions to the c3 double bond to form a 9 membered lactone ring or 5 membered tetrahydrofuran ring respectively exemplary base catalysed hydrolysis and intramolecular michael addition reactions are illustrated in scheme 4 of fig4 the starting reactant 3 can be readily prepared from cholesteryl acetate or derivatives thereof as illustrated in scheme 5 of fig5 cholesteryl acetate and derivatives thereof i e in which n is 2 or 3 and or x is nitrogen are commercially available or can be produced using known techniques see references above for example referring to scheme 5 of fig5 compound 3 can be prepared by ozonolysis of cholesteryl acetate lettre h mathes k wagner m liebigs ann chem 1967 703 147 151 under conditions sufficient to form the keto acid thereof compound 1 the keto acid 1 is then subjected to a ring closure step and converted to the lactone 3 u03b2 actoxy b homo 6 oxa 4 cholesten 7 one 2 compound 2 is then exposed to sodium azide at room temperature to produce 3 u03b1 azido b homo 6 oxa 4 cholsten 7 one 3 which can be further used as discussed above to produce the compounds of the invention an alternative way.