An Improves Method for the Cleavage of Methyl Esters

Abstract

Synthetic organic chemists are continually looking for milder, more specific methods of effecting given transformations, and one such problem which recently arose in our laboratory involved ester cleavage. In particular, we sought a specific, wild, non-hydrolytic method for effecting teh ester - acid transformation under conditions which other acid or base sensitive functional groups would survive.