Concise syntheses of immunostimulating glycolipids, α-galactosyl ceramides

α-Galactosylceramides (α-GalCers) are well known as immunostimulating agents having therapeutic potential. To facilitate the synthesis of α-GalCers and their derivatives, a novel and convergent strategy was designed, which is expected to be versatile for the preparation of a variety of analogues in a diversity-oriented fashion. As an initial demonstration of our strategy, KRN7000 and OCH were synthesized in eight steps from a common intermediate, which is easily obtainable in a multi-gram scale.