Feeding experiments with Streptomyces griseoflavus using deuterium-labeled racemic 3,3-[ and 6,6-[D 2 ]-lysine (6e), and 3-amino-5-(2-amino-1,1-dideuterioethyl)-4,5-dihydrofuran-2-one dihydrochloride (34·2HCl) were carried out in order to obtain detailed information about the hitherto unknown biosynthetic pathway from lysine to the unusual amino acid 3-(trans-2Ј-nitrocyclopropyl)alanine [(3-Ncp)Ala] (2), which is a building block of hormaomycin 1a. The corresponding lysine dihydrochlorides were prepared in 33, 24, 19, and 30% overall yield, respectively, along a new efficient general synthetic route applying