Carbohydrates are one of the major classes of biomolecules that make up most of the organic matter on earth and serve as energy stores, fuels and metabolitic intermediates. They are made from monosaccharide monomers connected through a glycosidic linkage. Conformational preferences and vibrational spectra of alpha and beta anomers of methyl-D-xylopyranoside (that is amongst the approximately ten monosaccharide units that dominate the glycobiology of higher animals) and their mixture with water will be studied with inelastic neutron scattering (INS). The effect of anomeric conformation on the abovementioned properties as well as role of anharmonic effects and influence of thermal motion on the dynamics, line intensities and positions will be explored. INS spectra of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and both anomers of methyl-D-glucopyranoside, at T = 10 K will be measured as well.