The intramolecular conjugate addition of benzylamine to a d-glucose derived α,β-unsaturated ester: an efficient synthesis of trihydroxylated pyrrolidine alkaloids as potential glycosidase inhibitors

A short and efficient synthesis of 1,4,5-trideoxy-1,4-imino-l-xylo-hexitol 2a and 1,4,5-trideoxy-1,4-imino-d-arabino-hexitol 2b is reported using the intramolecular conjugate addition of in situ generated benzylamine to the α,β-unsaturated ester 4, derived from d-glucose, as the key step.