Formal Synthesis of (±)-Cortistatin A

Significance

The cortistatins are a family of rearranged steroidal alkaloids with an interesting pentacyclic skeleton. These compounds show potent antiproliferative activity against a standard model for anti-angiogenic activity with cortistatin A being the most potent. The cortistatins have become popular targets and three total syntheses, multiple formal syntheses, and numerous synthetic studies have been reported.