Synthesis of Icaritin

Icaritin, the aglycone of icariin, has many pharmacological and biological activities, such as antiosteoporosis activity and estrogen regulation. The synthesis of caritin via an eight-step strategy including Houben-Hoesch acylation, one-pot Algar-Flynn-Oyamada reaction and europium-promoted prenylation etc., from anhydrous phloroglucin is reported in this paper. All the compounds were characterized by NMR and HRMS spectea.