Pseudosaccharides containing various natural combinations of rings present in aminoglycoside antibiotics were prepared from the parent antibiotics, neomycin B, paromomycin, and lividomycin B, by oxidation of available vicinal diols and β-elimination. Pseudotrisaccharides comprising rings A, B, and C of paromomycin and lividomycin B, a pseudotrisaccharide comprising rings B, C, and D of the three antibiotics, and a 'core' pseudotrisaccharide containing rings B and C were thus prepared. These are valuable biological probes and intermediates for semisynthetic work in this series.