Mild and facile procedure for clay-catalyzed acetonide protection and deprotection of N(Boc)-amino alcohols and protection of 1,2-diols

The application of clay as a catalyst for acetonide protection of N(Boc)-amino alcohols and 1,2-diols to obtain good to excellent yields of the acetonide derivatives is described. Acetonide deprotection to obtain the parent amino alcohol was carried out using a similar catalyst in the presence of methanol as solvent. The reaction takes place at room temperature within 2 h to give the parent amino alcohol in quantitative yield keeping the N(Boc) group intact.