Gold-catalyzed diversified synthesis of 3-aminosugar analogues of digitoxin and digoxin

A diversified synthesis of 3-aminosugar analogues of digitoxin and digoxin with potent anticancer activities was explored. The synthesis was based on a highly efficient gold-catalyzed glycosylation reaction with alkynylbenzoate 3-aminoglycosides as glycosyl donors. According to this strategy, a small library containing digitoxin and digoxin analogues with various 3-aminosugar scaffolds was successfully constructed.