In work recently featured on the cover of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, spearheaded by postdoc Matt Hammers along with other undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs from the research groups of Mark Distefano, David Blank (UMN) and Zach Ball (Rice U.), the development of protecting groups for sulfur that can be removed at wavelengths greater than 800 nm is described. Such protecting groups have great potential for applications in biology and material science.