2-Methoxyphenyl isocyanate: a chemoselective multitasking reagent for an amine protection/deprotection sequence

Abstract

Organic amines, in general, are protected through carbamate bond mediated cappings. Herein, we have demonstrated the chemically stable urea linkage suitably employed for protection/deptrotection of amino groups. The stability of the urea linkage under acidic, alkaline and aqueous conditions is an additional advantage for such a protecting group. Therefore the chemoselective nature of 2-methoxyphenyl isocyanate enables its use as a new class of protecting groups which can regenerate free amines after a convenient deprotection step.