The Controlled Stereospecific Reduction of Cyclopentenyl Cytosine (CPE-C) to Carbodine and Isocarbodine

Abstract The preferential cis-addition of hydrogen to either face of the carbocyclic double bond of enantiomerically pure cyclopentenyl cytosine (1) was achieved. The resulting saturated carbocyclic nucleosides carbodine (2) and isocarbodine (3) were evaluated against human influenza virus. Carbodine showed the greater potency against this virus but the activity of isocarbodine was still substantial.