A stereocontrolled, facile and high-yield approach for producing (+)-altroDNJ, has been developed starting from the inexpensive commercial cis 2-butene-1,4-diol. Sharpless epoxidation and a subsequent dihydroxylation were used for the introduction of all stereocentres; finally, the ring closure under basic conditions afforded the piperidine heterocycle.
Keywords: 1-deoxyaltronojirimycin; Iminosugar; dihydroxylation; heterocycles; stereoselective synthesis.