Following the recent discoveries that some l-nucleosides are more or equal potent than their d-counterparts, we synthesized 2'-deoxy-2', 2'-difluoro-l-erythro-pentofuranosyl nucleosides as potential antiviral agents. The target compounds were synthesized via the key intermediates 7a or 7b from l-gulono γ-lactone. Compound 2 was oxidatively cleaved and coupled with ethyl bromodifluoroacetate in the presence of activated zinc under ...
