3,4,5‐Trihydroxypiperidines represent a family of biologically active natural products, found to modulate principally the glycosidase enzymes. This is ascribed to their structural and electronic resemblance to the pyranose monosaccharides, their natural counterparts. Expedient syntheses are crucial to access these valuable high Fsp3 index drug leads. In this review we present the literature strategies to this class of iminosugars to spur further research into drug leads targeting the glycobiological machinery of living systems.

The effect of different leaving groups on the substitution versus elimination outcomes with C-5 d-glucose derivatives was investigated.