A highly efficient and chemoselective synthetic protocol for tetrahydropyranylation/depyranylation of alcohols and phenols

Various alcohols and phenols can be converted efficiently to the corresponding tetrahydropyranyl (THP) ethers in good yields using catalytic amounts of bromodimethylsulfonium bromide (0.005-0.02 equivalent) at room temperature. On the other hand, various THP ethers can also be deprotected to the parent alcoholic or phenolic compounds in CH2Cl2/MeOH (5:2) by employing 0.05 equivalent of the same catalyst. Some of the major advantages of this procedure are its mild conditions, that it is highly selective and efficient, high yielding, and cost-effective, that it needs no solvent and is compatible with the presence of other protecting groups. Furthermore, no brominations occur at a double or triple bond, at an allylic position or even at an aromatic ring. ((C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2003).