The Breaking Beads Approach for Photocleavage from Solid Support

Photocleavage from polystyrene beads is a pivotal reaction for solid phase synthesis that relies on photolabile linkers. The photocleavage, usually performed by batch irradiation, suffers from incomplete and slow cleavage. To overcome these issues, continuous flow and high-energy lamps are frequently used, but these setups are hazardous, technically challenging, and expensive. We developed a photocleavage approach that relies on a benchtop LED lamp and magnetic stirring. In this approach, we crush the beads instead of keeping their integrity to increase the yield of photocleavage. This approach proved very efficient for photocleavage of protected oligosaccharides.