The synthesis of monosaccharide units functionalised with different amino acids is described herein. Sugar amino acid templates linked at position 6 of the sugar were prepared by various nucleophilic substitutions introducing a spacer of variable length or by traceless Staudinger ligation. Sugar amino acid templates attached at the anomeric position and representing a class of precursors of glycopeptides were synthesized in three steps via addition of a solution of trimethylsilylnitrate-trimethylsilylazide on a glycal, followed by subsequent reduction of the sugar azide and coupling with diverse amino acids.