Serendipitous synthesis and configurational assignment of (-)-Gabosine J

2-epi-Gabosine I, unambiguously synthesized from benzyl d-mannopyranoside in nine steps with 34% overall yield, has been shown to be identical to gabosine J by NMR spectral analysis, thereby indicating that the relative stereochemistry of gabosine J was incorrectly determined formerly as a syn-triol. The relative and absolute configurations of (-)-gabosine J are now revised and confirmed as (2S,3S,4R)-trihydroxy-5-hydroxymethylcyclohex-5-en-1- one. Since the specific rotation of the natural product has not been recorded, the absolute configuration of natural gabosine J is either (-)-gabosine J or its enantiomer.