A catalytic method for chemoselective detritylation of 5′-tritylated nucleosides under mild and heterogeneous conditions using silica sulfuric acid as a recyclable catalyst

A rapid, mild and highly efficient procedure for the chemoselective deprotection of triphenylmethyl (trityl, Tr), p-anisyldiphenylmethyl (monomethoxytrityl, MMT) and di-(p-anisyl)phenylmethyl (dimethoxytrityl, DMT) groups from nucleoside trityl ethers has been established. The deprotection was achieved at room temperature, using a catalytic amount of silica sulfuric acid (SSA) in acetonitrile. The trityl nucleosides were deprotected in 2–17 min without any depurination. These conditions are compatible with other acid sensitive hydroxyl protecting groups such as p-methoxybenzyl (PMB), isopropylidene, cyclohexylidene, di-(p-anisyl)methylidene, triisopropylsilyl (TIPS) and t-butyldimethylsilyl (TBDMS).