A mild and selective cleavage of tert-butyldimethylsilyl ethers by indium(III) chloride

Abstract

Alkyl tert-butyldimethylsilyl ethers are selectively deprotected to the corresponding alcohols in high yields for the first time by indium(III) chloride in refluxing aqueous acetonitrile. Several functional groups like OBn, Boc, CBz, OBz, O-allyl, OTBDPS, OAc, OMe, ethers, esters and olefins present in the substrate are unaffected.