Concise synthesis of enantiomers of 4-aminobutane-1,2,3-triol.

A very efficient synthesis of (2R,3S) and (2S,3R)-4-aminobutane-1,2,3-triol has been developed using either d- or l-glucose as the starting material. A key step is the one-pot conversion of an aldehyde to an amide, the scope of which has been extended to include other carbohydrate-derived aldehydes.