A mild and chemoselective method for ester O-alkyl cleavage using in situ generated potassium thiophenoxide from catalytic quantities of base

Chemoselective deprotection of methyl esters can be achieved under non-hydrolytic and virtually neutral conditions by treatment with thiophenol in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) in the presence of a catalytic amount of K2CO3.