Palladium-Catalyzed\nDecarbonylative Michaelis–Arbuzov\nReaction of Carboxylic Acids and Triaryl Phosphites

A Pd-catalyzed decarbonylative Michaelis–Arbuzov\nreaction\nof carboxylic acids and triaryl phosphites for preparing aryl phosphonates\nunder anhydride-free conditions has been reported. In this context,\ntriaryl phosphites serve as both reagents for activating the carboxylic\nacids and substrates for the reaction. There have been no reports\nto date of efficient and direct methods for the <i>in situ</i> activation of carboxylic acids using triaryl phosphites. In comparison\nto known methods, this reaction avoids the use of organohalides and\nhas an excellent functional group tolerance for the synthesis of various\naryl phosphonates from triaryl phosphites and carboxylic acids. This\nreaction is scalable and applicable to the synthesis of aryl phosphonates\nfeaturing bioactive fragments.