New Supports for Solid-Phase Organic Synthesis: Development of Cross- Linked Polytetrahydrofuran-Polystyrene Resins

With the advent of combinatorial chemistry and automated synthesis there has been renewed interest in polymer-supported reactions.[1] However, it is evident from the literature that polymer supports used for other than peptide or nucleotide synthesis are, at present, far from optimized. It is not a trivial matter to identify new supports that are economically viable, exhibit satisfactory physical characteristics and that are inert to the diverse range of reagents/catalysts commonly involved in a multi-step combinatorial synthesis. Herein we describe a new class of resins that meet the criteria stated (vide supra). The resins are based on a set of polytetrahydrofuran (PTHF) cross-linkers and hold significant promise as polymer supports for solid-phase synthesis and combinatorial chemistry.