4-Methoxyestradiol

4-Methoxyestradiol (4-ME2) is an endogenous, naturally occurring methoxylated catechol estrogen and metabolite of estradiol that is formed by catechol O-methyltransferase via the intermediate 4-hydroxyestradiol.^[1][2][3] It has estrogenic activity similarly to estrone and 4-hydroxyestrone.^[4]

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Selected biological properties of endogenous estrogens in rats

Estrogen	ERTooltip Estrogen receptor RBATooltip relative binding affinity (%)	Uterine weight (%)	Uterotrophy	LHTooltip Luteinizing hormone levels (%)	SHBGTooltip Sex hormone-binding globulin RBATooltip relative binding affinity (%)
Control	–	100	–	100	–
Estradiol (E2)	100	506 ± 20	+++	12–19	100
Estrone (E1)	11 ± 8	490 ± 22	+++	?	20
Estriol (E3)	10 ± 4	468 ± 30	+++	8–18	3
Estetrol (E4)	0.5 ± 0.2	?	Inactive	?	1
17α-Estradiol	4.2 ± 0.8	?	?	?	?
2-Hydroxyestradiol	24 ± 7	285 ± 8	+b	31–61	28
2-Methoxyestradiol	0.05 ± 0.04	101	Inactive	?	130
4-Hydroxyestradiol	45 ± 12	?	?	?	?
4-Methoxyestradiol	1.3 ± 0.2	260	++	?	9
4-Fluoroestradiola	180 ± 43	?	+++	?	?
2-Hydroxyestrone	1.9 ± 0.8	130 ± 9	Inactive	110–142	8
2-Methoxyestrone	0.01 ± 0.00	103 ± 7	Inactive	95–100	120
4-Hydroxyestrone	11 ± 4	351	++	21–50	35
4-Methoxyestrone	0.13 ± 0.04	338	++	65–92	12
16α-Hydroxyestrone	2.8 ± 1.0	552 ± 42	+++	7–24	<0.5
2-Hydroxyestriol	0.9 ± 0.3	302	+b	?	?
2-Methoxyestriol	0.01 ± 0.00	?	Inactive	?	4
Notes: Values are mean ± SD or range. ER RBA = Relative binding affinity to estrogen receptors of rat uterine cytosol. Uterine weight = Percentage change in uterine wet weight of ovariectomized rats after 72 hours with continuous administration of 1 μg/hour via subcutaneously implanted osmotic pumps. LH levels = Luteinizing hormone levels relative to baseline of ovariectomized rats after 24 to 72 hours of continuous administration via subcutaneous implant. Footnotes: a = Synthetic (i.e., not endogenous). b = Atypical uterotrophic effect which plateaus within 48 hours (estradiol's uterotrophy continues linearly up to 72 hours). Sources: [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]

4-Methoxyestradiol

Names
IUPAC name 4-Methoxyestra-1,3,5(10)-triene-3,17β-diol
Systematic IUPAC name (1S,3aS,3bR,9bS,11aS)-6-Methoxy-11a-methyl-2,3,3a,3b,4,5,9b,10,11,11a-decahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthrene-1,7-diol
Other names 4-ME2; 4-MeOE2; 4-MeO-E2; 4-Methoxy-17β-estradiol; Estra-1,3,5(10)-trien-3,4,17β-triol 4-methyl ether
Identifiers
CAS Number	26788-23-8
3D model (JSmol)	Interactive image
ChEBI	CHEBI:136975
ChemSpider	61848
PubChem CID	68578
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)	DTXSID50949596
InChI InChI=1S/C19H26O3/c1-19-10-9-12-11-5-7-16(20)18(22-2)14(11)4-3-13(12)15(19)6-8-17(19)21/h5,7,12-13,15,17,20-21H,3-4,6,8-10H2,1-2H3/t12-,13-,15+,17+,19+/m1/s1 Key: BCWZIZLVBYHFES-PYEWSWHRSA-N
SMILES C[C@]12CC[C@H]3[C@H]([C@@H]1CC[C@@H]2O)CCC4=C3C=CC(=C4OC)O
Properties
Chemical formula	C19H26O3
Molar mass	302.414 g·mol−1
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa). Infobox references

See also

• 2-Methoxyestradiol
• 2-Methoxyestriol
• 2-Methoxyestrone
• 4-Methoxyestrone