syrupy intermediates. The purpose of this communication is to report an easy and inexpensive route for the synthesis of L-fucose fromD-galactose in good yield using inexpensive reagents and involving mostly crystalline intermediates. D-Galactose diethyl dithioacetal [6] (1), obtained fromD-galactose, was reduced [7] with Raney nickel in the presence of zinc granules and sodium hydroxide to afford L-fucitol