Alkyl diarylphosphine oxide as latent nucleophile: an unprecedented alkyl transfer to carboxylate under solvent-free conditions promoted by microwave irradiation

Abstract

We report here an unprecedented alkyl transfer from alkyl diarylphosphine oxide to a wide range of carboxylates promoted by microwave irradiation without solvents. The eco-benign solvent-free process affords the ester products with good to high yields within short reaction time (5 min). This work suggests a new organic transformation with a proposed C→O migration mechanism, that is, similar to ‘Baeyer–Villiger oxidation’.