Alcohol Protecting Groups

Silyl ethers have an important role as hydroxyl-protecting groups/ Alcohols can be easily converted to trimethylsilyl ethers by reaction with trimethylsilyl chloride in the presence of an amine or by heating with hexamethyldisilazane. Although these are useful compounds when the objective is preparation of a less polar derivative of... 

Six protective groups for alcohols, which may be removed successively and selectively, have been listed by E.J. Corey (1972B). A hypothetical hexahydroxy compound with hydroxy groups 1 to 6 protected as (1) acetate, (2) 2,2,2-trichloroethyl carbonate, (3) benzyl ether, (4) dimethyl-t-butylsilyl ether, (5) 2-tetrahydropyranyl ether, and (6) methyl ether may be unmasked in that order by the reagents (1) KjCO, or NH, in CHjOH, (2) Zn in CHjOH or AcOH, (3) over Pd, (4) F", (5) wet acetic acid, and (6) BBrj. The groups may also be exposed to the same reagents in the order A 5, 2, 1, 3, 6. The (4-methoxyphenyl)methyl group (=MPM = p-methoxybenzyl, PMB) can be oxidized to a benzaldehyde derivative and thereby be removed at room temperature under neutral conditions (Y- Oikawa, 1982 R. Johansson, 1984 T. Fukuyama, 1985). 

Since (A) does not contain any other functional group in addition to the formyl group, one may predict that suitable reaction conditions could be found for all conversions into (A). Many other alternative target molecules can, of course, be formulated. The reduction of (H), for example, may require introduction of a protecting group, e.g. acetal formation. The industrial synthesis of (A) is based upon the oxidation of (E) since 3-methylbutanol (isoamyl alcohol) is a cheap distillation product from alcoholic fermentation ( fusel oils ). The second step of our simple antithetic analysis — systematic disconnection — will now be exemplified with all target molecules of the scheme above. For the sake of brevity we shall omit the syn-thons and indicate only the reagents and reaction conditions. 

In all cases examined the ( )-isomers of the allylic alcohols reacted satisfactorily in the asymmetric epoxidation step, whereas the epoxidations of the (Z)-isomers were intolerably slow or nonstereoselective. The eryfhro-isomers obtained from the ( )-allylic alcohols may, however, be epimerized in 95% yield to the more stable tlireo-isomers by treatment of the acetonides with potassium carbonate (6a). The competitive -elimination is suppressed by the acetonide protecting group because it maintains orthogonality between the enolate 7i-system and the 8-alkoxy group (cf the Baldwin rules, p. 316). 

It is widely recognized that an allyl group is a useful protecting group for acids, amines, and alcohols. Facile formation of a Tr-allylpalladium complex from... 

Allylamines are difficult to cleave with Pd catalysts. Therefore, amines are protected as carbamates, but not as allylamines. Also, allyl ethers used for the protection of alcohols cannot be cleaved smoothly, hence alcohols are protected as carbonates. In other words, amines and alcohols are protected by an allyloxycarbonyl (AOC or Alloc) group. 

Photolytic cleavage reactions (e.g., of o-nitrobenzyl, phenacyl, nitrophenylsul-fenyl derivatives) take place in high yield on irradiation of the protected compound for a few hours at 254-350 nm. For example, the o-nitrobenzyl group, used to protect alcohols, amines, and carboxylic acids,has been removed by irradiation. Protective groups that have been removed by photolysis are described at the appropriate places in this book in addition, the reader may wish to consult five review articles. 

One widely used method of formation of protected compounds involves polymer-supported reagents, with the advantage of simple workup by filtration and automated syntheses, especially of polypeptides. Polymer-supported reagents are used to protect a terminal — COOH group as a polymer-bound ester (RCOOR —( ) during peptide syntheses, to protect primary alcohols as... 

Ethers are among the most used protective groups in organic synthesis. They vary from the simplest, most robust, methyl ether to the more elaborate, substituted, trityl ethers developed for use in nucleotide synthesis. They are formed and removed under a wide variety of conditions. Some of the ethers that have been used to protect alcohols are included in Reactivity Chart 1. ... 

See also C. B. Reese, Protection of Alcoholic Hydroxyl Groups and Glycol Systems, in Protective Groups in Organic Chemistry, J. F. W. McOmie, Ed., Plenum, New York and London, 1973, pp. 95-143 H. M. Flowers, Protection of the Hydroxyl Group, in The Chemistry of the Hydroxyl Group, S. Patai, Ed., Wiley-Interscience,... 

This group is more labile to hydrolysis than the TBDMS group and has been used to protect in alcohol where the TBDMS group was too resistant to cleavage. The DEIPS group is approximately 90 times more stable than the TMS group to acid hydrolysis and 600 times more stable than the TMS group to base-catalyzed solvolysis. 

The ability to convert a protective group to another functional group directly without first performing a deprotection is a potentially valuable transformation. Silyl-protected alcohols have been converted directly to aldehydes, ketones, bro-mides, acetates, and ethers without first liberating the alcohol in a prior deprotection step. 

In the following example the acetonide protective group is selectively converted to one of two t-butyl groups. The reaction appears to be general, but the alcohol bearing the t-butyl group varies with structure.Benzyli-dene ketals are also cleaved. 

Silyl-derived protective groups are also used to mask the thiol function. A complete compilation is not given here since silyl derivatives are described in the section on alcohol protection. The formation and cleavage of silyl thioethers proceed analogously to simple alcohols. The Si—S bond is weaker than the Si—O bond, and therefore sulfur derivatives are more susceptible to hydrolysis. For the most part silyl ethers are rarely used to protect the thiol function because of their instability. Silyl ethers have been used for in situ protection of the — SH group during amide formation. ... 

Cross-conjugated dienones are quite inert to nucleophilic reactions at C-3, and the susceptibility of these systems to dienone-phenol rearrangement precludes the use of strong acid conditions. In spite of previous statements, A " -3-ketones do not form ketals, thioketals or enamines, and therefore no convenient protecting groups are available for this chromophore. Enol ethers are not formed by the orthoformate procedure, but preparation of A -trienol ethers from A -3-ketones has been claimed. Another route to A -trien-3-ol ethers involves conjugate addition of alcohol, enol etherification and then alcohol removal from la-alkoxy compounds. 

Beta- and 3a-equatorial hydroxyl groups of the 5a- and 5j5-series respectively, as well as the quasi-equatorial 3/ -hydroxyl in A -enes, are highly reactive. Most of the protective groups considered in this review can be readily prepared with these alcohols. 

As previously discussed, ethyl chlorocarbonate reacts rapidly and selectively with an equatorial 3-hydroxyl group to give the corresponding cathylate. Trityl ethers, usually employed as a selective protecting group for primary hydroxyls, can be prepared from A -3j3-ols by heating with triphenylmethyl chloride in pyridine, and from 5a-3 -alcohols by more prolonged heat-... 

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