“…2,3,4,6-Tetra- O -benzoyl-β-D-galactopyranose-(1→3)-1,2- O -isopropylidene-β-D-xylose 28 was conveniently prepared from 25 in 70% overall yield, via selective removal of the 5,6- O -isopropylidene group followed by NaIO 4 oxidation and NaBH 4 reduction in a similar way as reported in [17]. Subsequently, hydrolysis of 28 was carried out in an aqueous solution of sulfuric acid (4%) under heating at reflux, and the reaction was accompanied by ring expansion [18] to provide 2,3,4,6-tetra– O -benzoyl-β-D-galactopyranose-(1→3)-β-D-xylose 29 , which was benzoylated with benzoyl chloride in pyridine. Regioselective removal of the 1- O -benzoyl group in 2 M MeOH-NH 3 followed by trichloroacetimidation with trichloroacetonitrile [9] afforded building block 15 in 68% yield (3 steps).…”