New oxidatively removable carboxy protecting groups

2,6-Dimethoxybenzyl esters are readily oxidized by 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano benzoquinone (DDQ) to generate the corresponding carboxylic acids. Phenyl esters substituted with hydroxy, methoxy and dimethylamino groups are also efficiently oxidized by ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) under pH control conditions.     

New safety-catch photolabile protecting group

Photolabile protecting groups have proven their usefulness on many occasions. Their versions as linkers are however less attractive, as robustness and real orthogonality become critical issues. Safety-catch systems, where a preliminary activation phase is necessary, circumvent the problem of premature cleavage. In this work, we introduce a new safety-catch photolabile protecting group, whose cleavage requires the simultaneous presence of light and a chemical promoter.     

Photochemically removable silyl protecting groups.

Several o-phenol-containing alkoxyvinylsilanes were prepared and their photochemistry was investigated. These materials were prepared via hydrosilylation of the corresponding o-acetoxy arylacetylenes. Two major classes of photochemical processes were identified in these reactants: trans-->cis isomerization, leading to an intramolecular nucleophilic substitution process at silicon, and 1,5-silyl shift, leading to an unsymmetrical dialkoxysilane. The major outcome of this work is a novel class of photochemically removable protecting groups. Two alkyl substitutions on silicon, the dimethyl and diisopropyl, were examined. The latter is more stable and is preferred for protecting groups that must tolerate multiple steps or reagents. Protection of alcohols is generally performed starting with the arylethynyl acetate, which can be subjected to hydrosilylation, alcohol substitution, and acetate deprotection without isolation of intermediates. Two groups were studied in detail, the phenol and 2-naphthol vinyl silane derivatives. A variety of primary and secondary alcohols were protected with these reagents. These groups can be deprotected cleanly and in high yield by irradiation from 250 to 350 nm.     

Development of trityl-based photolabile hydroxyl protecting groups

A series of trityl-based photolabile hydroxyl protecting groups have been examined. These PPGs evolve from the traditional acid-labile trityl protecting group with proper electron-donating substituents. Structure-reactivity relationships have been explored. A m-dimethylamino group is crucial to achieve high photochemical deprotection efficiency. The o-hydroxyl group in 8 greatly improves the yield of the photochemical deprotection reaction, compared with the corresponding o-methoxyl-substituted counterpart 7. However, comparison between the photoreactions of 9 and 11 does not show similar structural relevance. The PPG in ether 1 (i.e., DMATr group) is structurally simple and easy to prepare and install. Its deprotection can be successfully carried out with irradiation of sunlight without requirement of photochemical devices.     

Light-directed radial combinatorial chemistry: orthogonal safety-catch protecting groups for the synthesis of small molecule microarrays

We describe the development of photolabile protecting groups based on the 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenacyl group (TMP). Orthogonal safety-catches were created by introducing an acid-activatible dimethyl ketal (AA-TMP) and an oxidatively activatible 1,3-dithiane (OA-TMP) into the photolabile TMP group. We demonstrate the application of these protecting groups in light-directed synthesis of small molecule microarrays with diversity elements radially attached to a hydroxyproline scaffold.     

cis-Tetrahydrofuran-3,4-diol structure as a key skeleton of new protecting groups removable by self-cyclization under oxidative conditions

A variety of carbonate-type acyl groups having a cis-tetrahydrofuran-3,4-diol (1,4-anhydroerythritol) backbone structure and a TrS or MMTrS group have been examined as new "protected" protecting groups of the 5'-hydroxyl group of nucleosides. These acyl groups were designed in a manner where they could be deprotected by I(2)-promoted removal of the TrS or MMTrS group followed by self-cyclization involving an intramolecular attack of the once-generated neighboring hydroxyl group on the acyl carbon. It turned out that these acyl groups could be introduced into the 5'-hydroxyl group of a 3'-O-protected thymidine derivative by use of the corresponding acyl imidazolides or 4-nitrophenyl esters as well as by reaction with carbonyldiimidazole or 4-nitrophenyl chloroformate. Among the acyl groups tested, it was found that the CTFOC group could be easily introduced into the 5'-hydroxyl group of 3'-masked deoxyribonucleoside derivatives and rapidly removed under mild conditions using iodine.     

New protecting groups in the synthesis of oligosaccharides

The review is focused on new hydroxy and amino protecting groups in carbohydrate chemistry developed or gained popularity over the last 15 years. Representative examples for the protecting group manipulations are given.     

Controlled enzymatic synthesis of natural-linkage, defined-length polyubiquitin chains using lysines with removable protecting groups

E2 enzymes catalyze the ATP-dependent polymerization of polyubiquitin chains which function as molecular signals in the regulation of numerous cellular processes. Here we present a method that uses genetically encoded unnatural amino acids to halt and re-start ubiquitin polymerization providing access to natural-linkage, precision-length ubiquitin chains that can be used for biochemical, structural, and dynamics studies.     

9-(4-Bromophenyl)-9-fluorenyl as a safety-catch nitrogen protecting group

[reaction: see text] The 9-(4-bromophenyl)-9-fluorenyl (BrPhF) group has been developed as a novel safety-catch amine protection. This relatively acid-stable protecting group can be successfully activated by palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of the aryl bromide with morpholine and then cleaved effectively under mild conditions using dichloroacetic acid and triethylsilane. Complementary conditions are reported for selective removal of the BrPhF group in the presence of tert-butyl esters and carbamates as well as deprotection of tert-butyl esters and carbamates in the presence of BrPhF amines.     

Synthesis of poly(2-cyclohexenone-4-yl methacrylate) and acidolysis of pendant protecting groups in the polymer

4-Acetoxy-2-cyclohexenone (ACH) and 2-cyclohexenone-4-yl methacrylate (CHM) were obtained from the condensation reaction of 4-bromo-2-cyclohexenone (BCH) with acetic acid and methacrylic acid using 1,8-diazabicyclo-[5,4,0]-7-undecene (DBU), respectively. Poly(2-cyclohexenone-4-yl methacrylate) ( P-1 ) containing acid-sensitive 2-cyclohexenone-4-yl group was prepared from the radical polymerization of CHM and the esterification of poly(methacrylic acid) with BCH using DBU. Furthermore, P-1 and CHM copolymers ( P-2 and P-3 ) were easily synthesized from the radical polymerization of methacrylic acid and comonomers in dimethylsulfoxide using 1 mol % of 2,2′-azobis (isobutyronitrile) followed by esterification of the resulting polymers with BCH using DBU by one-pot method. The deprotection reaction of ACH and P-1 was carried out in dichloromethane using an acid catalyst. The reaction proceeded smoothly in solution to give phenol and the corresponding carboxylic acid. Therefore, the 2-cyclohexenone-4-yl group is a useful protecting group for carboxylic acids, because the protection and deprotection reactions are very easy. In the case of polymer films, however, the acid was trapped by carbonyl group on the 2-cyclohexenone-4-yl group, and did not cause the deprotection reaction. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Metal-assisted reactions—13 : Rapid, slective reductive cleavage of phenolic hydroxyl groups by catalytic transfer methods

Previous work has shown that, after converting phenols into suitable phenolic ethers, the aromatic C---H bond of the original phenol can be reductively cleaved heterogeneously to give a C---H bond through the use of molecular hydrogen or hydrogen donors together with a transition metal catalyst. The present work provides a method for selectively replacing a phenolic OH group by H in just a few minutes, compared with the 2 to 4 hr required previously using a hydrogen donor and the several hours under pressure required for molecular hydrogen. Various kinds of groups are suitable for preparing the required phenolic ethers from phenols, but the best ones are strongly electro-withdrawing heteroaromatic entities. Solvent appears to play an important role in this heterogeneous reaction, the mechanism of which is discussed.     

Simple deprotection of acetal type protecting groups under neutral conditions

When acetals such as MOM ethers, MEM ethers, and THP ethers were heated in ethylene glycol or propylene glycol, solvolysis proceeded smoothly to produce alcohols in excellent yield. This reaction is a very promising method for chemoselective deprotection of acetal type protecting groups.     

New syntheses of diaza-crown ethers using boc protecting groups

BOC-protected m-xylylenediamine was treated with tetraethyleneglycol ditosylate to form BOC-protected diazabenzo-18-crown 5 (5) in a good yield. BOC-protected diazabenzo-21-crown-6 (6) was prepared in the same manner from BOC-protected m-xylylenediamine and pentaethylene glycol ditosylate. Bis-BOC-protected diaza-17-crown-5 (12) was prepared by treating BOC-protected 1,4-diaminobutane with 1,11-diiodo-3,6,9-trioxaundecane. The BOC-protecting groups were removed in methanolic 2 N hydrogen chloride to form the corresponding diaza-crown ethers 7, 8 and 13 .     

Chemoselective deprotection of acid labile primary hydroxyl protecting groups under CBr4-photoirradiation conditions

The CBr₄-photoirradiation in methanol generates a controlled source of HBr, which can chemoselectively deprotect commonly used hydroxyl-protecting groups in saccharides and nucleosides, such as tert-butyldimethylsilyl, isopropylidene, benzylidene and triphenyl ethers in the presence of other acid-labile functional groups.     

CBr4-photoirradiation protocol for chemoselective deprotection of acid labile primary hydroxyl protecting groups

CBr₄-photoirradiation protocol was found to be a mild, highly efficient and selective method for deprotection of isopropylidene, benzylidene, triphenylmethyl and tert-butyldimethylsilyl protecting groups on sugar molecules. The conditions of this reaction can also be used to cleave peptides off from acid-labile resin linkers in solid-phase peptide synthesis.     

Synthesis of oligosaccharides by using levulinic ester as an hydroxyl protecting group

The fast, selective and mild removal of levulinyl groups with hydrazine from galactose, which also carries hydroxyl functions protected with acetyl groups, enables, under Koenigs-Knorr conditions, the synthesis of a trimer containing β-linked galactoses.