Benzoxaborole Protecting Groups for the Agri Industry

Fortune Business Insights reports that the global fungicide market size was valued at $17.1 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.93% to $25.81 billion by 2028.  With the expansion of the global fungicide market, which includes manufacturing benzoxaboroles in large quantities, Dr. Tomsho’s protecting group invention will enable more efficient syntheses in this market.

The versatile benzoxaborole protecting groups discovered at St. Joseph’s University (formerly the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia) can mask undesired reactivity and reduce the limitations imposed by current modes of synthesis which require late-stage incorporation of boron.

The Tomsho team has reported the design, synthesis, and evaluation of two families of compounds that form divalent, zwitterionic complexes with benzoxaboroles. These compounds efficiently and reversibly protect the benzoxaborole functionality through one or more chemical steps that are incompatible with the unprotected benzoxaborole. The chemical robustness of these protecting groups has been characterized, and investigators determined that these protecting groups offered improved reaction scope diversity when compared with the previous state of the art. Additionally, compound solubility in organic solvents is generally improved thus facilitating reactions where the unprotected substrate was not soluble.

 

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