Triisobutylaluminium and diisobutylaluminium hydride as molecular scalpels: The regioselective stripping of perbenzylated sugars and cyclodextrins

To explain the remarkable regioselective de-O-benzylating properties of diisobutylaluminium hydride (DIBAL-H) and triisobutylaluminium (TIBAL) towards polybenzylated sugars or cyclodextrins, we propose a plausible mechanistic rationale critically involving the kinetic formation of a product-generating 2:1 Al-benzylated sugar complex. For the reaction to occur, one pair of adjacent oxygen atoms should first be able to form a chelation complex with the first equivalent of aluminium reagent, either a highly fluxional complex with tetra-coordinate aluminium species or a pentacoordinate one. The second equivalent then induces the regioselectivity of the de-O-alkylation by coordinating preferentially to one of the oxygen atoms of the selected pair.