Synthesis of 2-C-methylerythritols and 2-C-methylthreitols via enantiodivergent Sharpless dihydroxylation of trisubstituted olefins

The mevalonate-independent pathway (MIP) is an interesting avenue for antimicrobial lead discovery. Here, we present a unified enantioselective synthesis of all four stereoisomers of 2-C-methyltetrol. These are useful building blocks of many bioactive natural products, including 2-C-methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) of the MIP biosynthetic pathway.