FeCl3·6H2O/acetaldehyde, a versatile system for the deprotection of ketals and acetals via a transacetalization process

Abstract

Mild and efficient catalytic deprotection of ketals/acetals mediated by FeCl₃·6H₂O/acetaldehyde has been described in this paper. The versatility and high chemoselectivity of the iron(III)/aldehyde system are demonstrated by a large scope of examples. Deprotected ketones/aldehydes are nearly quantitatively isolated after filtration over a pad of silica gel followed by evaporation of volatile by-products.