Steroid-like Compounds

Steroids are organic compounds possessing four fused rings: three 6-member cyclohexane rings and one 5-member cyclopentane ring. They are a large family of natural products that play an essential role in regulation for a wide range of cellular functions. Their primary role in humans is to act as hormones that regulate metabolic, immune, and reproductive functions, and the steroidal scaffold is a privileged motif that is present in many drugs. Due to their importance in the regulation of vital biological functions, steroids and steroid-like compounds are synthetically targeted by chemists and are pivot in drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, and chemical biology. Many FDA-approved drugs are steroid-based and are used to treat an assortment of medical ailments such as inflammation, allergic reaction, heart disease, cancer, and metabolic disease. Despite advancements in steroid synthesis that have resulted in synthetic strategies for their construction, the steroid-based drugs are obtained using semisynthesis from natural steroids obtained from plant and animal sources. [1]

Example of steroid-like compounds, which have been used in the treatment of congestive heart failure and supraventricular arrhythmias is ouabain and digoxin. The therapeutic effect of them lies in their reversible inhibition on the membrane-bound Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase located in human myocardium. [2]

[1]         P. Nagorny and N. Cichowicz, New Strategy Based on Sequential Michael/Aldol Reactions for the Asymmetric Synthesis of Cardenolides, 1st ed., vol. 12. Elsevier Ltd., 2016.

[2]         R. J. Y. Chen, T. Y. Chung, F. Y. Li, W. H. Yang, T. R. Jinn, and J. T. C. Tzen, “Steroid-like compounds in Chinese medicines promote blood circulation via inhibition of Na+/K+-ATPase,” Acta Pharmacol. Sin., vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 696–702, Jun. 2010, doi: 10.1038/aps.2010.61.