Tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane: a mild and efficient catalyst for the chemoselective tritylation of alcohols

An efficient acid-catalyzed protection of alcohols as trityl ethers is described using triphenylmethanol in the presence of tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (3 mol %) in dichloromethane at room temperature. The chemoselectivity of this protocol is demonstrated by studying the tritylation of a primary alcohol in the presence of a secondary alcohol and also the mildness of this catalyst was studied with substrates containing acid labile protecting groups.