LETTER 825 Aryl, Alkyl bis-Silyl Ethers: Rapid Access to Monoprotected Aryl Alkyl and Biaryl Ethers

Abstract: A simple one-pot procedure has been developed for the selective etherification of aryl silyl ethers in aryl, alkyl bis-silyl ethers to generate alkyl tert-butyldimethylsilyl-protected aryl alkyl ethers and biaryl ethers in good to excellent yields. Key words: protecting groups, phenols, LiOH/DMF, ethers, selec-tive etherification As the complexity of synthetic targets has grown more de-manding, discrimination between similar types of protect-ing groups and direct transformation of one protecting group into another have become essential for increasing the efficiency of natural product synthesis. Among the many protecting groups available for hydroxyl groups, si-lyl and alkyl ethers are the most commonly used due to their stability under various reaction conditions.1 While many procedures are available for the formation o