The present disclosure provides methods of preparing cholic acid, deoxycholicacid, or chenodeoxycholic acid, anester thereof, or a pharmaceutically or cosmetically acceptable salt thereof,and novel and useful synthetic intermediates, for example,as described for methods 1, 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 3A, and 4. The method can start witha plant derived steroid as a starting material, suchas dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) or Acetyl-dehydroepiandrosterone (Ac-DHEA).Also provided are pharmaceutical or cosmeticcompositions and uses thereof, which comprise one or more of cholic acid,deoxycholic acid, or chenodeoxycholic acid, an ester thereof,or a pharmaceutically or cosmetically acceptable salt thereof, which is ofhigh purity, for example, free of animal derived impurities.
