Tosylated glycerol carbonate, a versatile bis-electrophile to access new functionalized glycidol derivatives

The reactivity of tosylated glycerol carbonate 2 toward nucleophiles has been exploited to generate glycidol analogues protected with carbonate or carbamate groups. The activated glycerol 2 is a reasonable linking agent with thiol and alcohol nucleophiles and an excellent and selective one with primary amines, allowing efficient bis-functionalizations of glycerol.