Selective protecting group manipulations on the 1-deoxynojirimycin scaffold

Iminosugars are inhibitors of glycoprocessing and are of interest as scaffolds for medicinal chemistry, as their successful application as peptide mimetics has shown. The synthesis of novel peptidomimetics based on 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) requires practical strategies that allow introduction of amino acid side chains or pharmacophore groups at each of its hydroxyl groups or to the nitrogen atom. This paper describes one approach towards achieving selective protection and deprotection at the hydroxyl and amino groups of DNJ and a novel synthesis of DNJ from l-sorbose is included.