A protecting group is used when there are two or more reactive sites present in a molecule, but only one is required to react. The active sites that are not wished to react are protected with a protecting group. Typical protecting groups for amines are:

• Benzyl
• Cbz - Carbobenzyloxy
• BOC - Butyloxy Carbonyl
• Fmoc - Fluorenylmethoxy Carbamate
  

  Typical protecting groups for carboxylates are:

  • Methyl ester
  • t-Butyl ester
  • Benzyl ester
    

    An activating group is used to make a reactive site even more reactive. Typical activating groups for carboxylates are:

    • DCC with DMAP
    • EDCI with DMAP
    • BOP
      
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