Mild and efficient deprotection of allyl ethers of phenols and hydroxycoumarins using a palladium on charcoal catalyst and ammonium formate

An efficient procedure for the cleavage of allyl phenyl ethers and allyl coumarinyl ethers using a catalytic amount of 10% Pd/C in combination with ammonium formate is described. Allyl ethers of phenols are deprotected in preference to those of alcohols and this method is compatible with several reducible functional groups such as CHO, COCH3, CO2Et and NHCOCH3.