Highly Stereoselective Synthesis of a C2-Symmetric 2,2′-Bipyridine Derived from Glucose

2-Bromo-6-lithiopyridine adds stereoselectively to the β-face of 1,2;5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-α-D-glucofuranos-3-ulose (2) to provide compound 5 in 50% yield as a single diastereomer. Compound 5 can be coupled to form novel C 2 -symmetric 2,2′-bipyridine 7, the first example of a C 2 -symmetric bipyridine that derives chirality from glucose.