“…They possess some glycosidase inhibitory properties [I] [2], but, except in the D-mannose and D-rhamnose series [3-51, they are in general weaker inhibitors when compared to the corresponding 5-amino-5-deoxy-~-hexoses Ib or to their I-deoxy derivatives lc in the D-glucose [6], D-gUlOSe [7], D-galactose [8], L-rhamnose [4], or L-fucose [9] series (Scheme I ) . h-lactams are important intermediates for the synthesis of more potent inhibitors like 1-deoxy-amino-sugars [4] [7] [9-1 I], amidines [12-151, amidrazones [14-161, amidoximes [15] [17], pyrrolo-and imidazolosugars [I 81, or polyhydroxyindolizines [I 91. In the pyrrolidinone series, amidrazones, which are obtained from D-ribono-y-lactam, are potent nucleotide hydrolase inhibitors We describe herein a straightforward synthesis of 5-amino-5-deoxypentono-and 5-amino-5,6-dideoxyhexono-6-lactams 13a, 14, 15a, 16, 13b, and 15b in the D-ribose, L-arabinose, D-xylose, L-lyxose, D-allose, and D-glucose series, respectively, starting from the readily available (E)-pentadienoic acid 2a [21] and from the commercial (E,E)-hexadienoic acid (= sorbic acid) 2b.…”