Nes Wd
Oct 12, 2011
Citations
6
Influential Citations
326
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Chemical Reviews
Abstract
Cholesterol and its relatives possessing the 1,2-cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene ring system (Figure (Figure1)1) form the sterolome, which comprises a chemical library of more than 1000 natural products found in all forms of eukaryotes and some prokaryotes that serve a myriad of biological functions.1,2 The structural and stereochemical commonality of these compounds derive in large part from the action of oxidosqualene synthases (formerly cyclases) that generate the parent sterol frame. In their 1985 Nobel lecture, Brown and Goldstein stated that “cholesterol is the most highly decorated small molecule in biology”, a comment supported by the many Nobel prizes awarded to individuals who devoted a large part of their lives to research one or more aspects of the chemistry and chemical biology of sterols, their metabolites, or other isoprenoids.2,3 Figure 1 Common tetracyclic steroid frame containing the 1,2-cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene ring skeleton.