Hard Acid and Soft Nucleophile System. 2.Demethylation of Methyl Ethers of Alcohol and Phenol with an Aluminum Halide-Thiol System

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/jo01310a003

Aliphatic and aromatic methyl ethers have been easily cleaved on treatment with a hard acid, aluminum halide, and a soft nucleophile, EtSH, to give parent alcohols and phenols, respectively.With compounds possessing both aliphatic and aromatic methyl ether groups, simultaneous demethylation of both types of ethers occurred.The ethereal carbon-oxygen bond in compounds possessing both ether and ester groups was selectively cleaved under mild conditions by using dichloromethane as a cosolvent.Acetoxyl and N-acetyl groups were shown to be stable to this reagent system, except for easy hydrolysis of aromatic acetoxyl groups under conditions of workup after the reaction.