The synthesis of 13C-enriched pyrrole, labeled adjacent to the nitrogen atom, is described. A convenient and effective bench-top synthesis is given which uses a readily available enriched pyranose sugar, 2-13C d-galactose, as the starting material. In the first step of the synthesis, d-galactose is oxidized to produce mucic acid in 70–75% yield. Mucic acid is then treated with ammonium hydroxide to give ammonium mucate in 99% yield. In the final step, ammonium mucate is pyrolyzed to form pyrrole with a 35% yield. The pyrrole obtained in this manner is greater than 98% enriched at the α position. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.