Benzyl carbamates protecting groups

Benzyl carbamate protection (Cbz or Z group see Table 10.15) was initially chosen by Merrifield for solid-phase peptide synthesis [255], The strongly acidic conditions required for its solvolysis (30% HBr in AcOH, 25 °C, 5 h) demanded the use of an acid-resistant nitrobenzyl alcohol linker. Z-protection of the a-amino group in solid-phase peptide synthesis was, however, quickly abandoned and replaced by the more acid-labile Boc protection. Benzyl carbamates can be cleaved by strongly ionizing... 

Cleavage of Phosphonate Esters. Compared to the reactivity of TMS-I with phosphonate and phosphate esters, TMS-Br is more selective and will cleave phosphonate esters even in the presence of carboxylic esters and carbamates. Benzyl ester protecting groups on aryl phosphates are selectively removed with TMS-Br. The reaction of phosphonate esters with TMS-Br proceeds through a mechanism similar to ester cleavage, providing a silyl ester which is subsequently hydrolyzed with MeOH or H2O (eq 14). 

Catalytic hydrogenolysis of an O-benzyl protective group is a mild, selective method introduced by Bergmann and Zervas to cleave a benzyl carbamate (> NCO—OCH2C6H5 > NH) prepared to protect an amino group during pep-... 

Me3SiI, CH3CN, 25-50°, 100% yield. Selective removal of protective groups is possible with this reagent since a carbamate, =NCOOCMe3, is cleaved in 6 min at 25° an aryl benzyl ether is cleaved in 100% yield, with no formation of 3-benzyltyrosine, in 1 h at 50°, at which time a methyl ester begins to be cleaved. 

Hg(OAc)2, H2O, 80% AcOH, HSCH2CH2SH, 25°, 5-20 min H2S, 2 h, high yield. The removal of an 5-benzylthiomethyl protective group from a dithioacetal with mercuiy(II) acetate avoids certain side reactions that occur when an 5-benzyl thioether is cleaved with sodium/ammonia. The dithioacetal is stable to hydrogen bromide/acetic acid used to cleave benzyl carbamates. 

Many carbamates have been used as protective groups. They are arranged in this chapter in order of increasing complexity of stmcture. The most useful compounds do not necessarily have the simplest stmctures, but are /-butyl (BOC), readily cleaved by acidic hydrolysis benzyl (Cbz or Z), cleaved by catalytic hy-drogenolysis 2,4-dichlorobenzyl, stable to the acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of benzyl and /-butyl carbamates 2-(biphenylyl)isopropyl, cleaved more easily than /-butyl carbamate by dilute acetic acid 9-fluorenylmethyl, cleaved by /3-elimination with base isonicotinyl, cleaved by reduction with zinc in acetic acid 1-adamantyl, readily cleaved by trifluoroacetic acid and ally], readily cleaved by Pd-catalyzed isomerisation. 

Sometimes it is useful to be able to remove a protecting group by photolysis. 2-Nitrobenzyl carbamates meet this requirement. The photoexcited nitro group abstracts a hydrogen from the benzylic position, which is then converted to a a-hydroxybenzyl carbamate that readily hydrolyzes232... 

Another microwave-mediated intramolecular SN2 reaction forms one of the key steps in a recent catalytic asymmetric synthesis of the cinchona alkaloid quinine by Jacobsen and coworkers [209]. The strategy to construct the crucial quinudidine core of the natural product relies on an intramolecular SN2 reaction/epoxide ringopening (Scheme 6.103). After removal of the benzyl carbamate (Cbz) protecting group with diethylaluminum chloride/thioanisole, microwave heating of the acetonitrile solution at 200 °C for 2 min provided a 68% isolated yield of the natural product as the final transformation in a 16-step total synthesis. 

A,r-Benzyl groups can be removed by reaction of amines with chloroformates. This can be a useful method for protecting-group manipulation if the resulting carbamate is also easily cleaved. A particularly effective reagent is a-chloroethyl chloroformate, which can be removed by subsequent solvolysis.78... 

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