Deoxyhydantocidin: Synthesis by Base-Catalyzed Spiro Cyclization and Interconversion with the 1′-Epimer

Syntheses of the spiro nucleosides 2′-deoxyhydantocidin 3a and its 1′-epimer 3b are described. The newly developed route involves a Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons condensation of the phosphonate 16 with the erythrose derivative 15 affording a mixture of six isomers which was fully assigned by NMR spectroscopy. The mixture was directly converted into the final compounds in an efficient base-catalyzed cyclization reaction. A base-catalyzed interconversion between the two isomers was observed.