Synthesis of pentahydroxy indolizidine alkaloids using ring closing metathesis: attempts to find the correct structure of uniflorine A.

Ring closing metathesis of d-glucose derived diene-substrate containing nitrogen functionality followed by asymmetric dihydroxylation afforded sugar substituted dihydroxylated pyrrolidines 8a-c which on 1,2-acetonide deprotection and reductive amination afforded putative uniflorine A 2a and its analogues 2b-c, respectively.