Recent Advances in the Chemistry of Aminocyclitols

Aminocyclitols are a group of natural products with remarkable biological activities. Over the last years, significant efforts have been made to develop synthetic methodologies directed not only towards their total synthesis but also towards the design of structural analogues with improved or novel biological properties. The aim of this review is to provide the reader with a concise update of the most relevant methods for the synthesis of aminocyclitols described in the literature. The review is organized according to the methodologies used for the construction of the aminocyclitol framework. These methodologies include chemoenzymatic approaches, intramolecular cyclizations, reactions of cyclitol derivatives with nitrogen nucleophiles, and rearrangement reactions.(© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008)