Alcohol uncaging with fluorescence reporting:: Evaluation of o-acetoxyphenyl methyloxazolone precursors

This paper evaluates a series of photolabile protecting groups with built-in fluorescence reporting. They rely on readily available o-acetoxyphenyl methyloxazolones as activated precursors. Alcohol substrates are easily caged. The resulting photoactivable esters exhibit large one- and two-photon uncaging cross sections. The alcohol substrates are quantitatively released in a 1:1 molar ratio with a strongly fluorescent coumarin coproduct that serves as a reporter to quantify substrate delivery.