A mild method for the protection of alcohols using a para-methoxybenzylthio tetrazole (PMB-ST) under dual acid–base activation

With a view to expand the repertoire of chemoselective methods applicable to sensitive and multifunctional substrates, the p-methoxybenzylation of alcohols under essentially neutral conditions is reported. This was achieved by the silver triflate (AgOTf) activation of 5-(p-methoxybenzylthio)-1-phenyl-1H-tetrazole (PMB-ST) in the presence of 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylpyridine (DTBMP).