De novo asymmetric syntheses of D- and L-talose via an iterative dihydroxylation of dienoates.

[reaction: see text] A short and highly efficient route to D- and L-talo-gamma-lactones has been developed. The key transformation was the sequential osmium-catalyzed bis-dihydroxylation reaction of substituted 2,4-dienoates. When the first dihydroxylation reaction is performed on (2Z,4E)-dienoates with use of the Sharpless AD-mix procedure, a regio- and enantioselective dihydroxylation resulted along with an in situ lactonization. A subsequent dihydroxylation, using OsO4/NMO in MeOH conditions, resulted in an exceedingly diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of talo-gamma-lactone.