Useful silylation reagent for hydroxyl functions, giving silyl ethers with greater stability to aqueous hydrolysis, compared to other silyl protecting groups e.g. TMS. This feature of PC5710 has seen it become one of the most widely used OH organic chemistry blocking groups, especially in synthetic applications. Silylation is often carried using out a base/catalyst such as imidazole, DMAP or DBU. The organic chemistry group will survive many types of aqueous work up and chromatography. However it is easily cleaved under mild conditions. Cleavage of this protecting group can generally be effected using fluoride ion, e.g. TBAF in aprotic solvent, or KF with a phase-transfer catalyst.