Synthesis of photoaffinity label analogues of α-tocopherol

Photoaffinity analogues of α-tocopherol have been synthesized that incoroporate the photosensitive 4-azido-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorobenzyloxy group at the terminus of unbranched analogues of the naturally occurring phytyl side chain. An intermediate from these syntheses has also been used to generate a supported lignnd for bioaffinity chromatography of α-tocopherol binding proteins.