Protecting Groups Cleaved by Nucleophilic Substitution

The resonance stabilisation of phenolate and carboxylate anions is just sufficient for them to serve as leaving groups in a classical bimolecular nucleophilic sub- 

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Danishefsky s synthesis (Scheme 4) [7] started from the readily available Wieland-Mie-scher ketone (19) which, by a series of mainly protection and oxidation reactions, was transformed to the fully functionalized C ring precursor 21. The oxetane moiety was introduced very early on in the synthesis, from a corresponding triol, again by nucleophilic substitution at C5. Noteworthy is the selective protection or modification of primary versus secondary versus tertiary hydroxy groups for this purpose. The benzyl protected enolized form 20 then could be oxidized, cleaved oxidatively and processed to compound 21 which, apart from complete C/D rings, possesses the necessary handles (C2 and C9/10) to bind to the A ring precursor 22 and thus form the B ring. 

Methoxyphenyl (PMP) ethers find occasional use as hydroxy protecting groups. Unlike benzylic groups, they cannot be made directly from the alcohol. Instead, the phenoxy group must be introduced by a nucleophilic substitution.185 Mitsunobu conditions are frequently used.186 The PMP group can be cleaved by oxidation with CAN. 

Allyl carbamates also can serve as amino-protecting groups. The allyloxy group is removed by Pd-catalyzed reduction or nucleophilic substitution. These reactions involve formation of the carbamic acid by oxidative addition to the palladium. The allyl-palladium species is reductively cleaved by stannanes,221 phenylsilane,222 formic acid,223 and NaBH4,224 which convert the allyl group to propene. Reagents... 

A reasonable mechanism for the iodine oxidation of 5-Trt cysteine peptides is given in Scheme 6. 45 Reaction of iodine with the divalent sulfur atom leads to the iodosulfonium ion 5 which is then transformed to the sulfenyl iodide 6 and the trityl cation. Sulfenyl iodides are also postulated as intermediates in the iodine oxidation of thiols to disulfides. The disulfide bond is then formed by disproportionation of two sulfenyl iodides or by reaction between the electrophilic sulfur atom of R -S-I and the nucleophilic S-atom of a second R -S-Trt molecule. The proposed mechanism suggests that any sulfur substitution (i.e., thiol protecting group) capable of forming a stabilized species on cleavage, such as the trityl cation, can be oxidatively cleaved by iodine. 

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