“…The structural diversity and bioactivities of rearranged steroids render them attractive targets for synthetic chemists, and many syntheses have been accomplished, by our group and others, as covered in several elegant reviews. , During the course of our work on designing a synthetic blueprint for these molecules, we were intrigued by the question of how they are biosynthesized . It has been shown that considering proposed biosynthesis routes while rationally designing synthetic approaches can be an effective strategy for quickly and easily accessing structurally complex natural products from abundant, inexpensive and commercially available starting materials .…”