AN EFFICIENT AND HIGHLY CHEMOSELECTIVE METHOD TO DESILYLATE SILYL ETHERS

An efficient and highly chemoselective desilylating method is describe d. Trimethylsilyl ethers (0.25 M) in a CH3OH/CCl4 (1:1) solvent mixtur e are deprotected to their corresponding alcohols with ultrasound in a commercial ultrasonic cleaning bath. Selective deprotection of tert-b utyldimethylsilyl ethers of benzyl alcohols and phenols is achieved un der ultrasonic conditions. We deprotected also tert-butyldimethylsilyl ethers of primary alcohols, whereas tert-butyldimethylsilyl ethers of secondary and tertiary alcohols are stable under these conditions.