Recent developments in the isolation and synthesis of D-homosteroids and related compounds

Both naturally occurring and synthetic D-homologs of compounds with a sterane skeleton exhibit diverse biological activity. The main sources of isolation are plants and marine organisms. The synthetic D-homosteroids are potential leads for drug discovery. This review focuses on steroids with a six-membered carbocyclic ring D and related compounds, the isolation or syntheses of which were reported between the mid-1990s and mid-2006.