A rapid and efficient synthesis of D-erythro-sphingosine from D-ribo-phytosphingosine

摘要

In this paper we describe the concise synthesis of D-erythro-sphingosine starting from the readily available chiral building block D-ribo- phytosphingosine. The title compound is the ubiquitous sphingolipid from which most mammalian ceramides are derived. Our work is based on the existing literature in which the same sphingoid base is used as a starting point and culminates in what we believe is the most efficient synthesis of D-erythro-sphingosine reported to date.