A simple modification of our recently published protection scheme for carboxylic acids as amides resulted in a new protecting group with significantly improved properties. It requires shorter reaction times for deprotection and allows us to replace Cu(OTf)(2) by CuCl(2), indicating at the same time the importance of the nature of the anion of the Cu(2+) source. Since the new scheme fulfills all criteria required for an ideal protection group it should find widespread application in synthetic organic chemistry.

Three structurally related relay protecting groups for carboxylic acids that are based on chelating amines have been developed. These protecting groups can easily be introduced by coupling the carboxylic acid and the corresponding amine in the presence of 2-(1H-benzotriazole-1-yl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyluronium tetrafluoroborate (TBTU). In addition to being stable to a whole array of reaction conditions, these protecting groups are also stable under acidic and basic conditions, allowing them to be used in combination with the ester protection of carboxylic acids. The cleavage of these protecting groups is activated by the chelation of metal ions, involving an unusual coordination of the amide nitrogen. Despite their similarity, cleavage of these protecting groups is possible in both a stepwise and an orthogonal fashion by applying different metal salts.

We describe a general and versatile approach for the conversion of carboxylic acid amides into their corresponding esters despite the fact that the former are thermodynamically more stable. The transformations are mediated by the coordination of CuI by a chelating entity. The resulting weakening of the amide bond allows for nucleophilic attack by alcoholic hydroxyl functions. The principle is demonstrated for a wide variety of transformations, leading to different kinds of esters and lactones.

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The novel protecting groups are developed to allow a highly chemoselective cleavage in a stepwise and orthogonal fashion by using different metal salts.

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A new approach for synthesizing cyclic urethanes from N,N‐bis(2‐picolyl)urea‐derivatives is reported.