Chiral Phosphonium Catalyst for Hydrophosphonylation

Significance

Enantioselective C-P bond formation reactions remain the most efficient way to generate α-hydroxy and α-amino phosphonates which are important analogues of α-amino acids. The main problem with addition of phosphites to electrophiles is the formation of the reactive tautomer. In this report the authors utilize a novel chiral phosphonium catalyst as a way to induce not only enantioselectivity but also to shift the equilibrium to the reactive phosphite tautomer.