2-N-Acetyl-4-O-(b-D-galactopyranosyl)-D-glucosamine (N-acetyl-D-lactosamine), a very important building block of biologically relevant oligosaccharides such as sialyl Lewis x , is easily accessible via the Heyns rearrangement of the corresponding Oglycosylated ketohexose, D-lactulose. This approach can also be extended to other glucosamine derivatives employing suitable O-glycosylated ketoses many of which are commercially available. For example, nigerosamine (3-O-a-D-glucopyranosyl-Dglucosamine) was prepared from turanose (3-O-a-D-glucopyranosyl-D-fructose). In combination with a recently introduced vinylogous amide type N-protecting group, [1,3-dimethyl-2, 4, 6 (1H, 3H, 5H)-trioxopyrimidine-5-ylidene] methyl (DTPM), this access is clearly superior to other routes and eminently suitable for scaling up.