convenient and high yielding approach for the deprotection and scavenging of the p-methoxybenzyl (PMB) group in PMB ethers and PMB esters was developed using POCl3 as the reagent. 4-Methoxybenzyl chloride, a starting material used for the preparation of PMB ethers and esters was regenerated in the deprotection step. This mild and selective procedure tolerates several acid sensitive functional groups.