Mild and chemoselective catalytic deprotection of ketals and acetals using cerium(IV) ammonium nitrate

Cerium(IV) ammonium nitrate (CAN) is a powerful, though mild, reagent for the efficient and selective removal of a range of ketals and acetals. This novel deprotection method requires only catalytic amounts of CAN and tolerates a variety of functional and protecting groups. Mechanistic insights suggest that the Ce(IV) salts act as unique Lewis acids and not as redox active species.