I am just taking a stab at this, but it seems to me that protecting groups
work like this: If I have an alcohol that I want to react with something
else, but I want it to react somewhere other than the hydroxyl portion of
the molecule, I can put a protecting group (like isobutylene) on the
"hydroxyl" portion. Then when I do my reaction, the structure
of the molecule will be maintained, and this will allow a reaction with
this portion (the hydroxyl portion) of the moleule at a later time.
I hope this made sense! Good luck!
Shana M.
> Hi everyone,
> I am unclear on protecting groups. In the book it says that you can use
> isobutylene to protect the hydroxyl group of a primary alcohol while
> another reaction is carried out on some other part of the molecule. I
> don't really understand what this means. Can anyone explain?
> Thanks,
> Julie S.
>
>