more heteroatoms comprising oxygen nitrogen or sulfur y represents oxygen or sulfur and z represents oxygen or nh with the proviso that at least one of r 1 r 2 or r 3 represents c 1 c 6 alkoxy in the preferred embodiment r 1 r 2 and r 3 represent ethoxy or methoxy x represents benzyl y represents oxygen and z represents nh the compound is useful for modifying molecules so that they can be attached to substrate surfaces in another embodiment of the invention a compound is provided having a formula v wherein r 1 r 2 and r 3 independently represents c 1 c 6 alkoxy c 1 c 6 alkyl phenyl or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 c 6 alkyl and c 1 c 6 alkoxy l represents a linking group x represents linear or branched c 1 c 20 alkyl or aryl substituted with one or more groups selected from the group consisting of c 1 c 6 alkyl and c 1 c 6 alkoxy optionally substituted with one or more heteroatoms comprising oxygen nitrogen or sulfur y represents oxygen or sulfur and z represents oxygen or nh and m represents a molecule with the proviso that at least one of r 1 r 2 or r 3 represent c 1 c 6 alkoxy the linking group l may be a nucleophile that is naturally present or chemically added to the molecule such as an amino sulfhydryl group hydroxy group carboxylate group or any suitable moiety l may represent u2014 nh u2014 s u2014 u2014 o u2014 or u2014 ooc u2014 in the preferred embodiment r 1 r 2 and r 3 represent methoxy or ethoxy x represents.