Electrophile-mediated cyclizations in carbohydrate chemistry: synthesis of highly functionalized ribofuranose and ribopyranose compounds

Iodine-mediated cyclization of (Z)- and (E)-{=D}-ribohept-2-enonates $\text{1}$ and $\text{2}$ gave exclusively the β-ribofuranose and α-ribofuranose derivatives $\text{3}$ and $\text{4}$, respectively. Cyclization of the (Z)- and (E)-2-heptene-1-ol derivatives $\text{5}$ and $\text{6}$ gave ribofuranose products ($\text{7}$ and $\text{8}$) and a ribopyranose ($\text{9}$), respectively.