It is worth noting that the key step in the synthetic planning is to convert the 2′-/3′-hydroxyl group of adenosine into the corresponding nitrogen functionality with retention of the configuration. Initially, we envisaged the use of 2-acetoxyisobutyryl bromide to afford 2′- and 3′-bromoadenosine derivatives with β-configuration at the bromo substituent.9 and 10 When the reaction was attempted, however, the bromoadenosine derivatives failed to react with various azide sources including sodium and TMS azide. In addition, previous reports in which bromoadenosines were successfully utilized as electrophiles are limited to nitrogen or oxygen nucleophiles, which reacted intramolecularly to afford cyclic intermediates.11 and 12 We next shifted our attention to another double inversion strategy by utilizing an oxidation/reduction/substitution reaction sequence to first alter the stereochemistry of the 2′-/3′-hydroxyl groups and then to replace the activated hydroxyl groups with a nitrogen nucleophile (Scheme 2).