Expedient and practical synthesis of CERT-dependent ceramide trafficking inhibitor HPA-12 and its analogues.

The practical stereodivergent route to both syn- and anti-diastereomers of 1-substituted 3-aminobutane-1,4-diols based on the crystallization-induced asymmetric transformation (CIAT) approach was completed. This led to the revision of the reported stereochemistry of the first inhibitor of CERT-dependent ceramide trafficking HPA-12 from (R,R)-anti- to the (R,S)-syn-enantiomer. Due to the expeditiousness of production and inexpensive conditions developed, a series of alkyl- and aryl-substituted analogues of HPA-12 is also reported.