Nanocrystalline TiO2-HCIO4 as a new, efficient and recyclable catalyst for the chemoselective trimethylsilylation of alcohols, phenols and deprotection of silyl ethers

TiO2-HCIO4, as a new solid acid, was found to be an efficient catalyst for the chemoselective trimethylsilylation of alcohols and phenols. Deprotection of the resulting trimethylsilylethers was achieved using the same catalyst in methanol solvent. The synthesized catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, SEM, TEM, BET and XRD analyses. Our novel synthetic method has the advantages of high yields, short reaction times, low cost and recyclability of the catalyst, simplicity and easy work-up compared to the conventional methods reported in the literature. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.