Coumestrol has about the same binding affinity for theER-βestrogen receptor as17β-estradiol, but much less affinity than17α-estradiol, although the estrogenic potency of coumestrol at both receptors is much less than that of 17β-estradiol.[4]
Because of the estrogenic activity of some coumestans, a variety ofsyntheses have been developed that allow the preparation of coumestans so that their pharmacological effects can be explored.[5][6]
^Yao, Tuanli; Yue, Dawei; Larock, Richard C (2005). "An Efficient Synthesis of Coumestrol and Coumestans by Iodocyclization and Pd-Catalyzed Intramolecular Lactonization".Journal of Organic Chemistry.70 (24):9985–9989.doi:10.1021/jo0517038.PMID16292831.
^Takeda, Norihiko; Miyata, Okiko; Naito, Takeaki (2007). "Efficient synthesis of benzofurans utilizing [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement triggered by N-trifluoroacetylation of oxime ethers: short synthesis of natural 2-arylbenzofurans".European Journal of Organic Chemistry.2007 (9):1491–1509.doi:10.1002/ejoc.200601001.
