Many microorganisms produce biologically important polysaccharides containing galactofuranosyl, arabinofuranosyl and/or fructofuranosyl residues. Recent interest in identifying antibiotics that act by inhibiting the biosynthesis of these glycans has resulted in the development of new and efficient methods for the assembly of oligosaccharides containing furanose residues. In general, it is now possible to synthesize any furanose-containing oligosaccharide with reasonable efficiency. In conjunction with these synthetic investigations, an increasing number of studies have probed the conformation of furanose rings, and a solid appreciation of the conformational preferences of key furanoside ring systems is now available.