Expanding the scope of methyl xanthate esters - From Barton-McCombie reaction auxiliary to versatile protective group
The methyl xanthate ester is presented as a versatile protective group for alcohols. Hydroxyl groups can easily be transformed into methyl xanthate esters by several methods and are commonly used as an auxiliary in the Barton-McCombie reaction. We show that these methyl xanthate esters can readily and chemoselectively be cleaved under mild conditions by the action of diethylenetriamine using micro