5-Hydroxy-isoxazolidinic heterocycles can be easily prepared from hydroxamic acids and suitable ,unsaturated aldehydes or ketones in good yields from solid state synthesis, selectively promoted by DEAE-C. The synthesized products were efficiently derivatized with representative heterobases for the preparation of nucleoside analogues suitable for biological evaluation and SAR analysis.

The aim of this review is to point out the attention of the reader to the use of DEAE-C in organic reactions, possibly not only devoted to the preparation of heterocycles but potentially extending to other classes of organic compounds. Being DEAE-C an ammonium salt commonly used in chromatographic applications, it can be considered as a potential mild acid catalyst or a proton donor and these features can in theory catalyze standard acid-catalyzed organic reactions. In addition, the resin nature of DEAE-C could suggest the way to perform organic reactions in the solid state.