In situ phosphonium-containing Lewis base-catalyzed 1,6-cyanation reaction: a facile way to obtain α-diaryl and α-triaryl acetonitriles

Autor: Yumeng Guo, Bing Yi, Jian-Ping Tan, Tian Li Wang, Hongkui Zhang, Guowei Gao, Yuan Chen, Xiaoyu Ren
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Organic Chemistry Frontiers. 9:156-162
ISSN: 2052-4129
DOI: 10.1039/d1qo01501j
Popis: We present a phosphonium-containing catalyst generated in situ from phosphine and tert-butyl acrylate that serves as an unusual Lewis base catalyst. It was applied for the promotion of a remote 1,6-cyanation reaction of p-quinone methides and fuchsones employing trimethylsilyl cyanide as the cyanide source. A diverse range of α-diaryl and α-triaryl acetonitriles was obtained in high yields under mild reaction conditions with low catalyst loading (5 mol%). The practicality and utility of this protocol were demonstrated via the gram-scale preparation and facile elaboration of products. Mechanistic investigations (in situ NMR and ESI-MS analysis) were employed to characterize the active zwitterionic phosphonium intermediate, which was the “true” active catalyst.
Databáze: OpenAIRE