abstract
- Cholesterol (or cholest-5-en-3β-ol) is an essential component of cell membranes and also serves as the precursor for the synthesis of steroid hormones, bile acids, and vitamin D. Its total synthesis was one of the most remarkable achievements of 20th century Chemistry, accomplished almost simultaneously by Robinson in Oxford and Woodward at Harvard. This notable synthetic endeavor is on the basis of the following chapter; in which, the cholesterol structural characterization, the key aspects of its total synthesis as well as the synthesis of its unnatural enantiomer (ent-cholesterol) will be detailed addressed following a chronological perspective.