Pathways leading to 3-amino- and 3-nitro-2,3-dideoxy sugars: strategies and synthesis

3-Amino- and 3-nitro-2,3-dideoxy sugars, which are structurally diverse and uncommon sugars bearing an amino substitution on a sugar scaffold, have been shown to play crucial roles in the biological activities of aminoglycoside antibiotics and aminoglycoside containing natural products. Over the past few decades, there have been continuing efforts on the convenient synthesis of monosaccharides and oligosaccharides containing 3-amino- and 3-nitro-2,3-dideoxysugar motifs, beginning from either carbohydrate or non-carbohydrate precursors. This review article is intended to provide an updated overview of the most striking contributions in this field, based on the various strategies to construct the 3-amino sugar ring.