Rapid de Novo Preparation of 2,6-Dideoxy Sugar Libraries through Gold-Catalyzed Homopropargyl Orthoester Cyclization

A flexible de novo route capable of producing libraries of 2,6-dideoxy sugars is described. We have found that Au­(JackiePhos)­SbF6MeCN promotes the conversion of homopropargyl orthoesters into functionalized 2,3-dihydro-4H-pyran-4-ones in good to excellent yields (71–90%). These latter compounds can be easily converted into a number of otherwise difficult to access 2,6-dideoxy sugars.