Synthesis of N‐Substituted (3S,4S)‐ and (3R,4R)‐Pyrrolidine‐3,4‐diols: Search for New Glycosidase Inhibitors

N‐Substituted (3S,4S)‐ and (3R,4R)‐pyrrolidine‐3,4‐diols 9 and 10 , respectively, were derived from (+)‐L ‐ and (?)‐D ‐tartaric acid, respectively. Compounds 9k, 9l , and 9m with the N‐substituents, BnNH(CH₂)₂, 4‐PhC₆H₄CH₂NH(CH₂)₂ and 4‐ClC₆H₄CH₂NH(CH₂)₂, respectively, showed modest inhibitory activities toward α‐D ‐amyloglucosidases from Aspergillus niger and from Rhizopus mold (Table 1). Unexpectedly, several (3R,4R)‐pyrrolidine‐3,4‐diols 10 showed inhibitory activities toward α‐D ‐mannosidases from almonds and from jack bean (Table 3). N‐Substitution by the NH₂(CH₂)₂ group, i.e., 10g , led to the highest potency.