A new, lipophilic p-alkoxybenzyl ether protecting group and its use in thesynthesis of a disaccharide

[GRAPHICS] In contrast to major advances in the chemical synthesis of oligosaccharides , the methods of purification of the intermediates are essentially the same as they were decades ago, Here, the synthesis of p-(dodecyloxy)benzyl chlo ride is described and it is demonstrated that the new p-(dodecyloxy)benzyl ether protecting group can render a protected disaccharide sufficiently lip ophilic for selective adsorption on C-18 silica, thus sidestepping the expe nsive silica gel chromatography traditionally used for the isolation of pro tected oligosaccharides.