A new enantioselective approach to carbanucleosides from Pauson-Khand (PK) adduct 1 is disclosed. The chiral cyclopentenone 1 is readily accessible in enantiomericallypure form via PK reaction of trimethylsilylacetylene and norbornadiene using N-benzyl-N-diphenylphosphino-tert-butyl-sulfinamide as a chiral P,S ligand. (-)-Carbavir and (-)-Abacavir were enantioselectively synthesized starting from (-)-1