Reaction of the commercially available 2,3,5-tri-O-benzyl-D-arabinose
with a primary amine (RNH2) affords the arabinofuranosylamine 2, which
on treatment with a Grignard reagent stereoselectively gives the amin
oalcohol 3. 3 is an useful precursor of azasugars: it is converted int
o the pyrrolidine 4 by treatment with Tf2O-Py, whereas by oxidation wi
th PCC it affords the lactam 5 which can be reduced to the correspondi
ng amine 6.