Racemic 2'-deoxy-5-ethyl-4'-thiouridine was synthesised utilising the stereoselective iodolactonisation of 3-(tert-butyldimethyIsilyl)oxy-N,N-dimethyl-4-pentenamide as the key transformation. The stereo-isomeric mixture of nucleosides was resolved using HPLC on a Chiralcel OJ column. The beta-D enantiomer showed potent activity against human herpesviruses while the beta-L was inactive. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd