Methyl 4-azido-4-deoxy-β-l-arabinopyranoside has been synthesized in five steps starting from methyl β-d-xylopyranoside in a multigram scale without chromatographic purification in 78% overall yield. The transformation relied on selectivetosylation/nosylation at O-4 followed by acylation, SN2 displacement with sodium azide, and subsequent deprotection. The methyl 4-azido-4-deoxy-arabinoside was then