Chiral inositols (D-chiro-inositol from Dpinitol and L-chiro-inositol from L-quebrachitol) were converted to the 3,4-di-O-benzyl ethers, which were selectively benzoylated to yield the 1,2,5-tri-O-benzoyl-3,4-di-O-benzylchiro-inositols. The free hydroxyl group in each derivative was inverted by way of the trifluoromethane sulfonate ester to provide D-and L-1,2,4-tri-O-benzoyl-5,6-di-O-benzyl-myoinositol. Hydrogenolysis to remove the benzyl ether groups gave the enantiomeric 1,2,4-tri-O-benzoyl-myo-inositols, which were phosphorylated by a dibenzylphosphite triester method. After hydrogenolysis and saponification of the derivatives, the D-and L-myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphates were isolated as the crystalline cyclohexylammonium salts in gram quantity.myo-Inositol-containing phospholipids were isolated from bovine brain by Folch in 1942 (1) and from soybeans by Woolley in 1943 (2), and a more highly phosphorylated form was obtained from brain tissue in 1949 (3). Folch called the latter preparation "diphosphoinositide" because it yielded an "inositol metadiphosphate" following strong acid hydrolysis, but the known susceptibility of inositol phosphates to acid-catalyzed migration suggests that the product must have been a mixture. The general nature of the inositol phosphates from brain lipids was reported by Grado and Ballou (4) and Dittmer and Dawson (5) in 1960, who concluded that it was composed of myo-inositol mono-, di-, and triphosphates. Characterization of the myo-inositol monophosphate from soybean inositol phospholipid (6), synthesis of its enantiomer (7), and characterization of the myo-inositol polyphosphates from brain inositol phospholipid (8, 9) followed, and the exact nature of the phospholipid complex was reported by Brockerhoff and Ballou in 1961 (10). These results were confirmed by Brown and Stewart (11).Although the brain inositol phospholipid complex was shown to have an active metabolism in tissue slices with respect to the turnover of the monoesterified phosphate groups (12-15), studies reported by Hokin and Hokin (16) failed to establish a specific physiological role for the inositides. Regardless, these workers are recognized for promoting the hypothesis that the inositol phospholipids were involved in specific cellular processes. Developments of the last decade that have elucidated the role of myo-inositol polyphosphates as second messengers have given new focus to this field of lipid metabolism (17), and the renewed interest has stimulated the development of synthetic procedures for the preparation of such derivatives. In studies published to date (18-23), the syntheses have started with myo-inositol, a meso compound, and have yielded racemic products that must be resolved to provide the natural isomer. In this report, we describe chiral syntheses of myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate that yield the optical antipodes directly and that follow a synthetic strategy that should facilitate the preparation of other useful derivatives. (27)] was prepared by the procedure of Jiang and Ba...