A triantennary N-acetylgalactosamine (Tri-GalNAcβ) ligand presenting three β-GalNAc residues on a tris-based branched scaffold, in a fully protected form: the sugar hydroxyl groups are acetate-protected (peracetate) and the central tris tertiary amine is protected with a benzyloxycarbonyl (Cbz) group. This protected intermediate is designed for multi-step synthesis of Tri-GalNAc conjugates, where the Cbz group is removed by hydrogenolysis to reveal the free amine for downstream coupling, and the acetate groups are removed under mild base (e.g., sodium methoxide) after assembly. This compound enables the construction of hepatocyte-targeted therapeutics and research tools that exploit the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR; Ashwell-Morell receptor), which is highly expressed on liver hepatocytes and binds GalNAc-containing ligands with high affinity. The trivalent presentation of GalNAcβ residues engages multiple carbohydrate-recognition domains of ASGPR simultaneously, producing high-avidity binding that substantially exceeds the affinity of monovalent GalNAc ligands and closely mimics the geometry of clinically validated Tri-GalNAc targeting moieties used in approved GalNAc-siRNA therapeutics.