22r-hydroxycholesterol 22r-hydroxycholesterol 22r-hydroxycholesterol, or (3β)-cholest-5-ene-3,22-diol is an endogenous, metabolic intermediate in the biosynthesis of the steroid hormones from cholesterol. cholesterol ((3β)-cholest-5-en-3-ol) is hydroxylated by cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme (p450scc) to form 22r-hydroxycholesterol, which is subsequently hydroxylated again by p450scc to form 20α,22r-dihydroxycholesterol, and finally the bond between carbons 20 and 22 is cleaved by p450scc to form pregnenolone ((3β)-3-hydroxypregn-5-en-20-one), the precursor to the steroid hormones. 22r-hydroxycholesterol names iupac name (22r)-cholest-5-ene-3β,22-diol systematic iupac name (1r,3as,3bs,7s,9ar,9bs,11as)-1--9a,11a-dimethyl-2,3,3a,3b,4,6,7,8,9,9a,9b,10,11,11a-tetradecahydro-1h-cyclopentaphenanthren-7-ol identifiers cas number 17711-16-9 n 3d model (jsmol) interactive image chebi chebi:166802 chembl chembl3218924 chemspider 96893 pubchem cid 107724 unii tj9hv8vpd2 y comptox dashboard (epa) dtxsid30904340 inchi inchi=1s/c27h46o2/c1-17(2)6-11-25(29)18(3)22-9-10-23-21-8-7-19-16-20(28)12-14-26(19,4)24(21)13-15-27(22,23)5/h7,17-18,20-25,28-29h,6,8-16h2,1-5h3/t18-,20-,21-,22+,23-,24-,25?,26-,27+/m0/s1key: rzpaxnjleklxno-uknntigfsa-ninchi=1/c27h46o2/c1-17(2)6-11-25(29)18(3)22-9-10-23-21-8-7-19-16-20(28)12-14-26(19,4)24(21)13-15-27(22,23)5/h7,17-18,20-25,28-29h,6,8-16h2,1-5h3/t18-,20-,21-,22+,23-,24-,25?,26-,27+/m0/s1key: rzpaxnjleklxno-uknntigfbu smiles o4c/c3=c/c1(cc2(1cc2(c)c(o)ccc(c)c)c)3(c)cc4 properties chemical formula c27h46o2 molar mass 402.653 g/mol except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °c , 100 kpa). infobox references it is an agonist of the liver x receptor.