Soluble polymer traceless linker investigations: Solvent effects on the desulfonylation of polyethylene glycol (PEG) substituted aryl alkyl sulfones with sodium amalgam

The soluble polymer polyethylene glycol containing a traceless aryl alkyl sulfone linker was found to be resistant to reductive cleavage with sodium amalgam (Na/Hg). Detailed investigations revealed that the solvent plays an important role in the desulfonylation reaction; subsequently it was determined that MeOH/DMF (1/8) is an ideal solvent system for the cleavage of this traceless linker.