A safe and practical procedure for global deprotection of oligoribonucleotides.

We report a practical global deprotection of RNA 2′-O-tert-butyldimethylsilyl (TBS) ethers using commercially available aqueous NH4F. The procedure is applicable to both 96-well plate format and large-scale production of RNA. This improved procedure provides a safe, mild, and cost-effective alternative to highly hazardous Et3N·3HF, a reagent commonly used in the routine synthesis of RNA.