Di-tert-butyl dicarbonate is a reagent widely used in organic synthesis. his carbonate ester reacts with amines to give N-tert-butoxycarbonyl or so-called t-BOC derivatives. These derivatives do not behave as amines, which allows certain subsequent transformations to occur that would have otherwise affected the amine functional group. The t-BOC can later be removed from the amine using acids. Thus, t-BOC serves as a protective group, for instance in solid phase peptide synthesis. It is unreactive to most bases and nucleophiles, allowing for an orthogonal Fmoc protection.

 Protection and deprotection of amines 

    The Boc group can be added to the amine under aqueous conditions using di-tert-butyl dicarbonate in the presence of a base such as sodium bicarbonate. Protection of the amine can also be accomplished in acetonitrile solution using 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) as the base.

     Removal of the t-BOC in amino acids can be accomplished with strong acids such as trifluoroacetic acid neat or in dichloromethane, or with HCl in methanol. A complication may be the tendency of the t-butyl cation intermediate to alkylate other nucleophiles; scavengers such as anisole or thioanisole may be used.Selective cleavage of the N-Boc group in the presence of other protecting groups is possible when using AlCl3. The use of triethylsilane as a carbocation scavenger in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid in dichloromethane has been shown to lead to increased yields, decreased reaction times, simple work-up and improved selectivity for the deprotection of t-butyl ester and t-butoxycarbonyl sites in protected amino-acids and peptides in the presence of other acid-sensitive protecting groups such as the benzyloxycarbonyl, 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl, O- and S-benzyl and t-butylthio groups.