Hydrozirconation/bromination, followed by a Michaelis-Arbuzov reaction, as a convenient approach towards polyfunctional glycosylphosphonates.

In this note, an hydrozirconation/bromination/Michaelis-Arbuzov sequence was developped to introduce a trimethylene phosphonate unit on ketopyranosides. Performed on polyfunctional substrates bearing orthogonal protecting groups, this new approach provided a straightforward entry towards a large diversity of glycophosphomimetics having a quaternary anomeric position.