The xylose-mannose and xylose-glucose carbon-linked disaccharides 7 and 9 have been synthesised by a sequence in which the key steps are face selective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of xylose nitrile oxide (1) to the glucose-derived alkene (2) and reductive hydrolytic cleavage of the resulting 2-isoxazolines.The synthesis of carbon-carbon linked disaccharides (C-disaccharides) is the subject of widespread current interest.1 In order to develop a general route which would provide pyranose C-disaccharides with control of both position and stereochemistry of the interunit linkage we have made use of nitrile oxide cycloaddition chemistry.2Our synthetic approach is based on cycloaddition of a sugar nitrile oxide to a sugar alkene and reductive hydrolytic cleavage of the resulting 2-isoxazoline (Scheme l ) . t To test the method we selected the P-D-xylose nitrile oxide (1) and the D-glucose-derived alkene (2)3 as representative 1,3-dipole and 1-4,5-Dihydroisoxazoles. dipolarophile respectively. The nitrile oxide was generated in situ in the presence of the alkene by a modification of the Mukaiyama4 procedure involving a dehydration of nitromethylxylose (3).5 Slow addition of a solution of precursor (3) to an excess of the alkene ensures a low concentration of the nitrile oxide thus minimising the competing dimerisation to furazan N-oxide.6 The use of tolylene di-isocyanate (rather than phenyl isocyanate) as dehydrating agent, and quenching the reaction with 1,2-diaminoethane, facilitates isolation of the cycloadducts.Only two, (4) and (5), of the four possible isoxazolines were detected by t.1.c. and 13C n.m.r. spectroscopy and were isolated as a ca. 1 : 1 mixture in a combined yield of 66%. The isomers were separated by chromatography and characterised