Subject phosphorus halides

The Michaelis-Arbuzov reaction is the most used and well-known method for the synthesis of phosphonates and their derivatives and may also be used to synthesize phosphinates and tertiary phosphine oxides. The simplest form of the Michaelis-Arbuzov reaction is the reaction of a trialkyl phosphite, 3, with an alkyl halide, 4, to yield a dialkyl alkylphosphonate, 6, and new alkyl halide, 7 (Scheme 2). During this transformation the phosphorus atom of a ter-valent phosphorus(III) species (3) acts as a nucleophile resulting in the formation of an intermediate alkoxy phosphonium salt 5, containing a new [P—C] bond. The precise structure of the intermediates 5 is a subject of debate—as reflected by common reference to them as pseudophosphonium salts —with a penta-coordinate species (containing a [P—X] bond) being proposed and detected in some cases.18 Decomposition (usually rapid under the reaction conditions) of the intermediate 5 by nucleophilic attack of X- on one of the alkyl groups R1, with concomitant formation of a [1 =0] bond yields the product pentavalent phosphorus(V) compound (6) and the new alkyl halide, 7. 

The alkylation, with the more reactive of alkyl halides, of the sodium salts of monoes-terified phosphonothioic acids (equation 22) (see also Scheme 11) or of the disodium salts 107 results in preferential S-alkylation, and the same situation obtains for the salts of phosphinothioic acid " methylation can also be carried out with dimethyl sulphate. Alkylations may also be performed under phase-transfer conditions. From both practical and theoretical perspectives, the subject is more complex, since the course of alkylation reactions depends on the nature of the alkylating agent, on the polarity of solvent and whether this is protic or non-protic and on the concentrations of reactants a study of these features has been the subject of two reports In non-polar or weakly polar aprotic media, or in EtOH, alkylation occurs almost exclusively on sulphur, but in dipolar aprotic solvents, O-alkylation also takes place. The relative yields of sulphur- and oxygen-substituted derivatives, [Qs/Qol depends, for a given solvent, on the nature of substituents on phosphorus, i.e. essentially, whether the substrate is a thiophosphoric, thiophosphonic or thiophosphinic acid. With alkyl tosylates as alkylating agents at 0.02 m in hmpt, the alkylation of sodium 0,0-dialkyl or diphenyl phosphorothioates results in 100% overall conversions with [Qs/Qo] 5 the overall yields for sodium diphenyl- or diisopropyl-phosphinothioates are lower (50-100%) with [Qs/Qo] 1 ... 

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