The Total Synthesis of a-Natural Cardenolide: (+)-Digitoxigenin

摘要

It has been said that the active components in the Digitalis extracts have been "the most ingested drugs in medicine". These substances, usually called cardenolides, differ from ordinary steroids in three major respects: the C/D ring system is cis rather than trans fused, there is a tertiary hydroxyl at C-14, and the substituent at C-17 (a butenolide) is in the thermodynamically less stable β orientation. As might be expected, many partial syntheses of cardenolides have been described starting withreadily available steroids.