A short, facile and efficient synthesis of D-lyxo-phytosphingosine analogue has been achieved. The key steps involved are the Baylis-Hillman reaction of (S)-Garner aldehyde with methyl acrylate to obtain the corresponding adduct as the potential substrate, to which was added decylmagnesium bromide to obtain the E-trisubstituted alkene followed by OsO4/NMO mediated dihydroxylation gave the desired D-lyxophytosphingosine analogue intermediate diol which on acid hydrolysis resulted in the formation of the target molecule in good yield.
