an even better starting material. Certain types of optically active glycerol derivatives can be prepared from 3 with a minimum of protecting group chemistry. Starting from 3 we have synthesized 6 and 7, as well as 15, a structural analogue of the antibiotic moenomycin A['].Alkylation of 3IY1 with I-bromooctadecane or with 2,3dihydrophytyl bromide in dimethylformamide afforded 4 (81%) and 5 (70%), respectively. Hydrolytic cleavage of the benzylidene protecting groups, followed by diol cleavage with sodium metaperiodate, subsequent oxidation of the aldehyde with silver(l1) oxide and esterification of the resulting acid then furnished the R-glyceric acid derivatives 6 (36%) and 7 (S6%), respectively. H0yR:H3 R2 O R F T P h 6 , R' = H, R2 = OC18H37 7 , R' = H, R2 = OC20H,1 9 , R = H 10, R = CIsH3, 8, R', R2 = H, OC18H37 11, R' = COC6H5, R2 = C18H3, H o J : E l 12, R' = COCH,, R2 = ClSH3, ~~ [I] M. E. Jung, T.