Reexamination of neomycin B degradation: efficient preparation of its CD and D rings as protected glycosyl donors.

The degradation of neomycin B was reexamined, and a novel protocol was established to prepare the properly masked neomycin CD ring as a glycol donor in excellent yield. Glycosylation of the CD ring with glycol acceptors provided a facile access to versatile intermediates that could be utilized to synthesize a variety of novel neomycin B mimetics for RNA recognition. [reaction: see text]