Nomenclature of the Cardiac Aglycones, Toad Poisons and Steroid Sapogenins

THE nomenclature of these groups of steroids is at present unsatisfactory. The trivial names tell the reader nothing about the structure of the compounds, and many names are so similar as to be confusing even to workers familiar with the substances, for example, digoxigenin, digitoxigenin, digitogenin. The systematic names of the aglycones based on the names of the bile acids are very lengthy and are rarely used—digoxigenin, for example, may be called 3α : 12β : 14 : 21-tetrahydroxy-14- iso - nor chol-20(22)-enic acid lactone (23→21); but the name is scarcely convenient. Since much work is being done on these compounds at present, and since steroid nomenclature is to be discussed at the next meeting of the International Union of Chemistry in 1951, it seems appropriate to offer some proposals for the systematic nomenclature of these compounds.