Figure 13. Prototypical cardiotonic steroid skeleton core .

The primary features are a steroid skeleton in which the rings are fused in a cis–trans–cis arrangement. All ouabain‐like steroids in this study have a 14β‐OH, an unsaturated lactone ring attached via C17 in the β configuration, and a methyl group at C18. The sugars, if present, are attached via the 3β‐OH. See text for details. Reproduced with permission from Manunta et al. (2000).