Two enantio couples of terminal C-glycopyranosyl a-amino acids, namely the aminopyranuronic acids L-9, D-9 and L-10, D-10, have been synthesized from the serine- derived pair L-2, D-2 by exploiting enantiomerically pure butenolide intermediates 3 and 4. The key synthetic steps involved the sequential antiselective cis dihydroxylation of the butenolide double bond and the clean furanose-to-pyranose ring expansion to construct ...