D-Desosamine is synthesized in 4 steps from methyl vinyl ketone and sodium nitrite. The key step in this chromatography-free synthesis is the coupling of (R)-4-nitro-2-butanol and glyoxal (trimeric form) mediated by cesium carbonate, which affords in crystalline form 3-nitro-3,4,6-trideoxy-α-D-glucose, a nitro sugar stereochemically homologous to D-desosamine. This strategy has enabled the syntheses of an array of analogous 3-nitro sugars. In each case the 3-nitro sugars are obtained in pure form by crystallization.

D-Desosamine is synthesized in 4 steps from methyl vinyl ketone and sodium nitrite. The key step in this chromatography-free synthesis is the coupling of (R)-4-nitro-2-butanol and glyoxal (trimeric form) mediated by cesium carbonate, which affords in crystalline form 3-nitro-3,4,6-trideoxy-α-D-glucose, a nitro sugar stereochemically homologous to D-desosamine. This strategy has enabled the syntheses of an array of analogous 3-nitro sugars. In each case the 3-nitro sugars are obtained in pure form by crystallization.

β-Hydroxy-α-amino acids figure prominently as chiral building blocks in chemical synthesis and serve as precursors to numerous important medicines. Reported herein is a method for the synthesis of β-hydroxy-α-amino acid derivatives by aldolization of pseudoephenamine glycinamide, which can be prepared from pseudoephenamine in a one-flask protocol. Enolization of (R,R)- or (S,S)-pseudoephenamine glycinamide with lithium hexamethyldisilazide in the presence of LiCl followed by addition of an aldehyde or ketone substrate affords aldol addition products that are stereochemically homologous with L- or D-threonine, respectively. These products, which are typically solids, can be obtained in stereoisomerically pure form in yields of 55–98 %, and are readily transformed into β-hydroxy-α-amino acids by mild hydrolysis or into 2-amino-1,3-diols by reduction with sodium borohydride. This new chemistry greatly facilitates the construction of novel antibiotics of several different classes.

The discovery and implementation of antibiotics in the early twentieth century transformed human health and wellbeing. Chemical synthesis enabled the development of the first antibacterial substances, organoarsenicals and sulfa drugs, but these were soon outshone by a host of more powerful and vastly more complex antibiotics from nature: penicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline, and erythromycin, among others. These primary defences are now significantly less effective as an unavoidable consequence of rapid evolution of resistance within pathogenic bacteria, made worse by widespread misuse of antibiotics. For decades medicinal chemists replenished the arsenal of antibiotics by semisynthetic and to a lesser degree fully synthetic routes, but economic factors have led to a subsidence of this effort, which places society on the precipice of a disaster. We believe that the strategic application of modern chemical synthesis to antibacterial drug discovery must play a critical role if a crisis of global proportions is to be averted.

β-Hydroxy-α-amino acids figure prominently as chiral building blocks in chemical synthesis and serve as precursors to numerous important medicines. Reported herein is a method for the synthesis of β-hydroxy-α-amino acid derivatives by aldolization of pseudoephenamine glycinamide, which can be prepared from pseudoephenamine in a one-flask protocol. Enolization of (R,R)- or (S,S)-pseudoephenamine glycinamide with lithium hexamethyldisilazide in the presence of LiCl followed by addition of an aldehyde or ketone substrate affords aldol addition products that are stereochemically homologous with L- or D-threonine, respectively. These products, which are typically solids, can be obtained in stereoisomerically pure form in yields of 55–98 %, and are readily transformed into β-hydroxy-α-amino acids by mild hydrolysis or into 2-amino-1,3-diols by reduction with sodium borohydride. This new chemistry greatly facilitates the construction of novel antibiotics of several different classes.

Die Entdeckung und Einführung der Antibiotika im frühen zwanzigsten Jahrhundert hatte gewaltige Auswirkungen auf das Gesundheitwesen. Die chemische Synthese ermöglichte die Entwicklung der ersten antibakteriellen Substanzen, Organoarsenverbindungen und Sulfa-Medikamente, die jedoch bald von wirksameren und weitaus komplexeren natürlichen Antibiotika verdrängt wurden: unter anderem Penicillin, Streptomycin, Tetracyclin und Erythromycin. Diese ersten Abwehrstoffe sind inzwischen – als unvermeidbare Folge der raschen Resistenzentwicklung bei pathogenen Bakterien – deutlich weniger wirksam, was durch die weit verbreitete falsche Anwendung von Antibiotika noch verstärkt wurde. Jahrzehntelang ergänzten Medizinchemiker das Repertoire der Antibiotika durch semisynthetische und in geringerem Maße vollsynthetische Routen, aber ökonomische Faktoren haben einen Rückgang dieser Bemühungen ausgelöst, was die Gesellschaft an den Rand einer Katastrophe führt. Wir sind überzeugt, dass die strategische Anwendung moderner chemischer Synthesemethoden zur Entwicklung antibakterieller Wirkstoffe von entscheidender Bedeutung ist, wenn eine globale Krise abgewendet werden soll.