The divalent tin enol ether of the racemic complex between N‐BOC‐α‐aminoheptadienone and tricarbonyliron reacts with both enantiomers of protected lactaldehydes to yield predominantly one optically active, easily isolable ketol diastereoisomer (45%). From the enantiomerically pure (S)‐(+) complex and (R)‐(+)‐tert‐butyldimethylsilyloxylactaldehyde, the major ketol is obtained almost exclusively (isolated yield 86%). From there, the multiply protected 3‐amino‐3,6‐dideoxy‐D‐aldohexose mycosamine is obtained in a few high‐yield steps (decomplexation, stereospecific reduction to an anti‐1,3‐diol, transformation into a diacetate and ozonolysis; absolute configurations S,S,S,R). Reduction of the ketol before decomplexation completely reverses the stereochemistry of the reaction [control by the Fe(CO)3 and not by the hydroxy group → syn‐diol], also giving access to the (R,S,S,R) series (configuration of the N,N‐dimethylated mycaminose). The key structures were determined by X‐ray diffraction.
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