Lewis-acid promoted intramolecular N1 glycosylation to form the novel O6,5'-cyclonucleoside 1a occurs in high yield from the corresponding acyclic thiophenyl-glycoside 12. The relative stability of the O6,5' tether compared with O2,5' and O2,3' tethers is reported. Cleavage of the anhydro bond was effected with aqueous base to yield the 4-methoxybarbituric acid nucleoside analogue 14.