The modified glutamate 4, corresponding to fragment D in the original analysis, has been synthesized on four previous occasions: from d-glucose (ca. 12 steps), [13] from (S)-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane -4-acetaldehyde (10 steps, overall yield ca. 11%), [15] from (S)-pyroglutamic acid (11 steps, overall yield ca. 2%), [14] or from d-glyceraldehyde (11 steps, overall yield ca. 8%). [14] Our route that starts from commercially available N-Boc-glutamic acid benzyl ester 7 delivers the ...