Facile synthesis of monoacetylated spermidines, illustrating selective deacetylation and application of a common precursor

The synthesis of all three monoacetylated spermidines is reported. N4-Acetylspermidine was obtained in four steps from spermidine via the triacetylated intermediate by selective deacetylation after exhaustive t-butoxycarbonylation as well as directly from a previously described protected precursor. N1-Acetylspermidine and N8-acetylspermidine were both obtained in four simple protection/deprotection steps from a common, selectively protected compound, thus illustrating the versatility of the latter.