A facile synthesis of phytosphingosine from diisopropylidene-D-mannofuranose

In the present study, an efficient method with a high overall yield for preparing phytosphingosine and an analogue was developed. Starting with commercially available 2,3;5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-d-mannofuranose, a variety of lipid moieties were incorporated to obtain phytosphingosine and an analogue. Through an eight-step manipulation, phytosphingosine was obtained with an overall yield of 57%.