Chenodeoxycholic acid as a natural primary bile acid is one of the main organic compounds in the bile of chicken, duck, goose and so on. It has the function of sterilization, anti-inflammatory and dissolution of gallstones. In clinical practice, chenodeoxycholic acid is the drug for treatment of cholesterol gallstones. Ursodeoxycholic acid is the largest amount of drug for the treatment of gallstone disease, and chenodeoxycholic acid is the raw material for the synthetic of ursodeoxycholic acid. The application value in medicine promotes the preparation methods of chenodeoxycholic acid gradually improved. In recent years, great progress has been made in the research of chenodeoxycholic acid derivatives. Study on application of chenodeoxycholic acid has been extended to biological medicine, molecular recognition, functional materials and other fields. In particular, chenodeoxycholic acid derivatives show broad application prospects in the field of biological medicine. This paper provides an overview of the methods of extraction, synthesis and chemical modification of chenodeoxycholic acid according to chenodeoxycholic acid related research progress. Meanwhile, synthesis methods, properties and applications of chenodeoxycholic acid derivatives are also reviewed. The development prospects of chenodeoxycholic acid and its derivatives is also prospected.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 The preparation of chenodeoxycholic acid
2.1 The extraction of chenodeoxycholic acid from bile
2.2 Chemical synthesis of chenodeoxycholic acid
3 The synthesis of chenodeoxycholic acid derivatives
3.1 Synthesis of derivatives modified at 6-position
3.2 Synthesis of derivatives modified at 3,7-position
3.3 Synthesis of derivatives modified at 24-position carboxyl
3.4 Synthesis of derivatives modified at other positions
4 Conclusion