A family of stilbene-ethers as photolabile protecting groups for primary alcohols offers controlled deprotection based on choice of wavelength

A novel stilbene-ether type of photolabile protecting group (PPG) for hydroxyl group has been developed. It contains a stable aryl ether group in the protected form and can be deprotected by acid-catalyzed photorearrangement under 300-nm irradiation. The selective deprotection has also been achieved by irradiation of the mixture of 4-alkoxystilbene and 2-(4-alkoxystyryl)furan at 365 nm.