(2 S, 3 R)-3-(N-Benzyloxycarbonyl) amino-1-chloro-4-phenylthiobutan-2-ol 1 is a central intermediate of nelfinavir 2, which, being a potent HIV protease inhibitor, represents one of the most clinically efficacious anti AIDS drugs. Thus, a practical enantioselective synthesis of 1 has been devised which employs sodium erythorbate 9 as a chiral starting material. Consisting of the total 14-step functional group manipulations that proceed via methyl (2 S ...
[Carreira, Erick M.; Hastings, Curtis A.; Shepard, Mary S.; Yerkey, Lori A.; Millward, Dan B. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1994 , vol. 116, # 15 p. 6622 - 6630]