Convenient syntheses of the 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzylated and -allylated o-glucopyranoses 1 and 2 and the corresponding D-galactopyranoses 3 and 4 are described. The D-glucose derivatives 1 and 2 were obtained from inexpensive sucrose by peralkylation and subsequent acid hydrolysis. In this reaction sequence an alkylated D-fructofuranosyl cation is generated which was trapped by different nucleophiles to afford 4-benzyloxymethylenefurfural ( 8 ) and the alkylated D-fructosides 7, 8 and 10. On the other hand 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzyl-~-ga- In this paper we describe eficient methods for the synthesis of 2,3,4,6-tetra-o-benzylated and -allylated D-glucose 1 and 2 by alkylation of sucrose and the preparation of the protected D-galactose derivatives 3 and 4. The allylated compounds 2 and 4 represent synthetically useful building blocks since ally1 ethers are important relatively acid-stable protecting groups besides benzyl ethers without neighboring-group participation.Acid hydrolysis of octa-0-methylsucrose has been known since 1 903 [14], the analogous cleavage of octa-0-benzylsucrose was published in 1970[151 but did not receive further attention for the preparation of 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-benzyl-~-glucose (1). We reinvestigated this reaction by using perbenzylated as well as perallylated sucrose 5 and 9, which are easily accessible by different alkylation procedures ['2,'6.i7] Using water as nucleophile in the cleavage of octa-0-benzylsucrose 5, we succeeded in crystallizing 2,3,4,6-tetra-0-benzybglucose (1) directly in high yields. 4-Benzyloxymethylenefurfural (6) was isolated as a by-product.