Reaction of this hemiacetal with various organometallic species provides routes to a number of synthetic targets, e.g.: (-)-5-epishikimic acid: Tetrahedron Lett., 35, 5505 (1994); J. Chem. Soc., Perkin 1, 1805 (1997), aminocyclopentitols: Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 6, 1547 (1995), cyclopentane-type glycosidase inhibitors: J. Org. Chem., 61, 1354 (1996). Reaction with cysteamine leads to diastereomerically pure analogues of the alkaloids castanospermine and australine: Tetrahedron Lett., 37, 49 (1996).