Trichloroacetimidates were first introduced and explored by Schmidt in 1980 and since then have become very popular for glycoside synthesis.  The use of trichloroacetimidates provides many advantages including ease of formation, reactivity and stereochemical outcome.  
O-Glycosyl trichloroacetimidates are prepared via the addition of trichloroacetonitrile () under basic conditions to a free anomeric hydroxyl group.
Typical activating groups for glycosylation reactions using trichloroacetimidates are  or TMSOTf.
Column chromatographic purification of the reaction mixture can sometimes be challenging due to the trichloroacetamide by-product. This can, however, be overcome by washing the organic layer with 1 M NaOH solution in a separatory funnel prior to chromatography. Acetyl protecting groups were found to be stable during this procedure.