ergo-log.com

Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

24.12.2008

Pro-hormone version of norbolethone is on sale online

In the second half of 2006 the designer supplement X-Mass could be bought from web shops. The active ingredient in the supplement was surprisingly similar to norbolethone, the first designer steroid produced by Balco, Ergo-log discovered. The active ingredient in X-Mass was 13-ethyl 3-methoxy 2,5(10)-gona-diene 17-one, and it's still on sale on line.

Chemists refer to 13-ethyl 3-methoxy 2,5(10)-gona-diene 17-one as an intermediate product.

X-mass seems to be no longer on the market. Links to shops that supplied it don’t work and the website of the manufacturer Generic Labz is empty. The light is on, but nobody's home.

On the boards, though, you can still find postings on X-Mass, and they also refer to the marketing campaign for this product. X-Mass was supposed to be a trenbolone-type of substance, the campaign claimed. It is a progestin, but because it's structurally related to RU-486 – the structure of which is in the figure below – it works primarily as a progesterone blocker. It is not C-17 methylated, so it's not dangerous for the liver, and it makes you grow serious muscle bulk.

What more do you want?

Nothing, coach.

It's a great story, but we don't get it. If we draw the formula of the compound in X-mass, with our limited understanding we don't get anything that even vaguely resembles RU-486. We stumble on the steroid shown on the left in the diagram below.

The A-ring looks suspiciously like that of estradiol. In an acid environment, like in the stomach, the A-ring changes. The methoxy group on C3 falls off and a double bond disappears. See the right-hand side of the diagram.

Then, still in an acid environment, the double bond shifts in the molecule. See below.

Enzymes in the body then change the carbonyl group on C17 into a hydroxyl group. The end result is an androgen that has little resemblance to RU-486, but is similar to norbolethone, Balco's first undetectable hormone. The structure of norbolethone is drawn below.

Whether the substance has any effect, and whether it is safe, has never been studied.

Of course.