A divergent approach to the 7-oxa (-)-muricatacin analogue 2, the corresponding (+)-enantiomer ent-2 and the furanolactone 3 is reported starting from D-xylose. The resulting lactones have shown a potent and selective in vitro cytotoxicity against certain human neoplastic cell lines. (c) 2006 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.