o-Hydroxyarylphosphanes: Strategies for Syntheses of Configurationally Stable, Electronically and Sterically Tunable Ambiphiles with Multiple Applications

o-Hydroxyarylphosphanes are fascinating compounds by their multiple-reactivity features, attributed to the ambident hard and soft Lewis- and also Brønstedt acid-base properties, wide tuning opportunities via backbone substituents with ±mesomeric and inductive, at P and in o-position to P and O also steric effects, and in addition, the configurational stability at three-valent phosphorus. Air sensitivity may be overcome by reversible protection with BH3 , but the easy oxidation to P(V)-compounds may also be used. Since the first reports on the title compounds ca. 50 years ago the multiple reactivity has led to versatile applications. This includes various P-E-O and P=C-O heterocycles, a multitude of O-substituted derivatives including acyl derivatives for traceless Staudinger couplings of biomolecules with labels or functional substituents, phosphane-phosphite ligands, which like the o-phosphanylphenols itself form a range of transition metal complexes and catalysts. Also main group metal complexes and (bi)arylphosphonium-organocatalysts are derived. Within this review the various strategies for the access of the starting materials are illuminated, including few hints to selected applications.

Synthesis and Complexation Properties of 2-Hydroxy-5-methoxyphenylphosphonic Acid (H3L1). Crystal Structure of the [Cu(H2L1)2(Н2О)2] Complex

Abstract

2-Hydroxy-5-methoxyphenylphosphonic acid (H3L1) and the complex [Cu(H2L1)2(H2O)2] were synthesized and characterized by IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, and X-ray diffraction analysis. The polyhedron of the copper atom is an axially elongated square bipyramid with oxygen atoms of phenolic and of monodeprotonated phosphonic groups at the base and oxygen atoms of water molecules at the vertices. The protonation constants of the H3L1 acid and the stability constants of its Cu2+ complexes in water were determined by potentiometric titration. The protonation constants of the acid in water are significantly influenced by the intramolecular hydrogen bond and the methoxy group. The H3L1 acid forms complexes CuL‒ and CuL24‒ with Cu2+ in water.

Redox-neutral organocatalytic Mitsunobu reactions

Nucleophilic substitution reactions of alcohols are among the most fundamental and strategically important transformations in organic chemistry. For over half a century, these reactions have been achieved by using stoichiometric, and often hazardous, reagents to activate the otherwise unreactive alcohols. Here, we demonstrate that a specially designed phosphine oxide promotes nucleophilic substitution reactions of primary and secondary alcohols in a redox-neutral catalysis manifold that produces water as the sole by-product. The scope of the catalytic coupling process encompasses a range of acidic pronucleophiles that allow stereospecific construction of carbon-oxygen and carbon-nitrogen bonds.

Zinc-catalyzed regioselective C–P coupling of p-quinol ethers with secondary phosphine oxides to afford 2-phosphinylphenols

A highly regioselective C–P coupling reaction of p-quinol ethers with secondary phosphine oxides is developed as a new synthesis method for 2-phosphinylphenols by using Zn(OTf)₂ as the catalyst.