Vanadium(III) chloride: A mild and efficient catalyst for the chemoselective deprotection of acetonides

Acetonides are selectively cleaved at room temperature by a catalytic amount of VCl3 in methanol to furnish the corresponding diols under mild conditions. Other hydroxyl protecting groups such as TBDMS, TBDS, AC, THP, Bn, prenyl, allyl present in the substrate were intact under the reaction conditions.