The W -(glycofuranosylidene)toluene-4-sulfonohydrazides 5 and 10 (Scheme I ) were prepared in good yields by oxidation (1,3-dibromo-5,5-dimethylhydantoin/Et3N) of the W -glycosyltoluene-4-sulfonohydrazides 4 and 9, which were obtained from 2,3,5-tri-0-benzyl-o-ribose (3) and 2,3,5-tri-O-benzyI-o-arabinos.e (8), respectively, and toluene-4-sulfonohydrazide. The analogous naphthalene-2-sulfonohydrazides 7 and 12 were similarly prepared from 3 and 8 via 6 and 11. Photolysis in the presence of phenol of the sodium salt 15 (Scheme 2), best generated in situ, yielded the anomeric glycosides 16, some 5, and traces of the glycosides ( Introduction. -Glycopyranosylidene carbenes, known reactive intermediates [ 11, are best generated from diazirines, such as 1, under mild thermal and photochemical conditions [2]. They are also formed from the alkali salts of N'-glycosylidenesulfonohydrazides, such as 2 [3] [4], or (in low yields) from diazides under photochemical conditions [5]. N' -(Glycopyranosylidene)sulfonohydrazides are more readily prepared than the corresponding diazirines and are more stable. Their salts react similarly to diazirines in forming glycosides with phenols [&9] and cyclopropanes with electron-deficient alkenes [3] [9] [lo]. Thermolysis of N' -(glycopyranosylidene)sulfonohydrazides, however, also generates sulfinates, and this results in the formation of additional by-products [I 11 [12].