DOI: 10.1002/asia.201403260
Communication
Homogeneous Catalysis
Synthesis of Acylphosphonates by a Palladium-Catalyzed
Phosphonocarbonylation Reaction of Aryl Iodides with Phosphites
Yusuke Masuda, Naoki Ishida, and Masahiro Murakami*[a]
Table 1. Phosphonocarbonylation of phenyl iodide (1a)[a]
Abstract: Acylphosphonates are conveniently synthesized
from aryl iodides by a palladium-catalyzed reaction with
dialkyl phosphites under an atmospheric pressure of
carbon monoxide. The reaction demonstrates the first ex-
ample of the use of phosphorus nucleophiles in related
metal-catalyzed carbonylation reactions.
Carbon monoxide is readily available from industrial sources
and one of the most inexpensive C1 feedstock. It is generated
along with the production of hydrogen gas from fossil fuels,
Entry
Ligand
Yield [%][b]
and it is becoming even more desired to utilize carbon monox-
ide as the carbonyl source. On the other hand, numerous aryl
halides are available from commercial sources or from parent
arenes by conventional halogenation methods. Thus, a diverse
range of transition metal-catalyzed carbonylation reactions of
aryl halides have been developed, and are utilized for the pro-
duction of various carbonyl compounds.[1,2] For example, car-
boxylic esters are synthesized by a palladium-catalyzed alkoxy-
carbonylation reaction of aryl halides with alcohols under an
atmosphere of carbon monoxide.[3] The carbonylation reaction
has been extended to the synthesis of amides,[4] aldehydes,[5]
and related acid derivatives.[1,6–10] Yet, there have been no ex-
amples reported for the use of phosphorus nucleophiles in re-
lated carbonylation reactions.
2a
3a
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
PPh3
P(tBu)3
tBuXPhos
DPPB
DPPF
nd
nd
nd
nd
<5
nd
8
nd
nd
nd
nd
nd
nd
<5
11
BINAP
DPEPHOS
XANTPHOS
XANTPHOS
8
9[c]
60
96(84[d]
)
<5
[a] Reaction conditions: 1a (0.20 mmol), diethyl phosphite (0.24 mmol,
1.2 equiv), Pd2(dba)3·CHCl3 (5.0 mmol; 5 mol% Pd), ligand (12 mol% for
monophosphines and 6 mol% for diphosphines), CO (balloon), (iPr)2NEt
(2 equiv), THF (1 mL), RT, 16 h. [b] Determined by 1H NMR analysis of the
crude reaction mixture. [c] 1 equiv of (iPr)2NEt was used. [d] Yield of iso-
lated product. tBuXPhos=2-di-(tert-butyl)phosphino-2’4’6’-tri-(iso-propyl)-
biphenyl, DPPB=1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane, DPPF=1,1’-bis(di-
phenylphosphino)ferrocene, BINAP=2,2’-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,1’-bi-
naphthyl, DPEPHOS=bis[2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl] ether, XANT-
PHOS=4,5-bis(diphenylphosphino)-9,9-dimethylxanthene.
An acylphosphonate skeleton is a key structural motif com-
monly found in inhibitors of benzoylformate decarboxylase in
an acid form,[11,12] photoactive bioisosters of phosphotyrosine
residues,[13] and photoinitiators of polymerization of alkenes.[14]
Acylphosphonates also act as the intermediates for enantiose-
lective syntheses of various a-functionalized phosphonates.[15]
Conventionally, they are synthesized by a reaction of acid
chlorides with trialkylphosphites (Michaelis–Arbuzov reac-
tion)[16] or by an addition reaction of dialkyl phosphites to alde-
hydes followed by oxidation.[17] We report herein an alternative
method to synthesize acylphosphonate esters from aryl io-
dides, carbon monoxide, and dialkyl phosphites by a palladi-
um-catalyzed phosphonocarbonylation reaction.
Phenyl iodide (1a) was treated with diethyl phosphite under
an atmospheric pressure of carbon monoxide in the presence
of Pd/phosphine catalysts. The results using various phosphine
ligands are listed in Table 1. Monodentate phosphines such as
PPh3 and P(tBu)3 failed to promote the reaction (Table 1, en-
tries 1–3). Whereas typical diphosphine ligands like BINAP gave
almost no acylphosphonate 2a (Table 1, entries 4–6), XANT-
PHOS, a diphosphine with a large bite angle,[18] was uniquely
effective for the phosphonocarbonylation reaction (Table 1,
entry 8). Diphosphonated product 3a was formed as the by-
product when two equivalents of (iPr)2NEt was used as the
base. Interestingly, the use of one equivalent of (iPr)2NEt af-
forded 2a selectively (Table 1, entry 9). Whereas the resulting
2a is prone to hydrolysis upon treatment with standard silica
[a] Y. Masuda, Dr. N. Ishida, Prof. Dr. M. Murakami
Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry
Kyoto University
Katsura, Kyoto 615-8510 (Japan)
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW under
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asia.201403260.
Chem. Asian J. 2014, 00, 0 – 0
1
ꢀ 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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