"Volatilizable" supports for high-throughput organic synthesis

The concepts and use of "volatilizable" solid supports are presented. Such supports, which are completely removed by volatilization following decomposition, improve the efficiency of the solid-phase synthesis of both individual and mixtures of low-molecular weight acyclic and heterocyclic compounds as well as peptides, peptidomimetics, and protected peptide fragments. The "volatilizable" silica-based solid supports and linkers used to illustrate this concept were found to be completely removed by their decomposition and ultimate "volatilization" during the final cleavage step of synthetic process to yield solely the desired synthetic product(s) in the final reaction vessel.