Syntheses of 1, l-dimethylethyl (S)-4-formyl-2, 2-dimethyl-3-oxazolidinecarboxylate (5) and 1, l-dimethylethyl (4S-trans)-4-formyl-2, 2, 5-trimethyl-3-ox~ olidine~ boxylate (6) from commercially available serine and threonine derivatives are described. The method involves selective reduction of the corresponding oxazolidine esters 3 and 4 using diisobutylaluminum hydride at low temperature. These differentially protected@-hydroxy-a ...