Radical Phosphorylation of Aliphatic C-H Bonds via Iron Photocatalysis

Org Lett. 2023 Jul 21;25(28):5279-5284. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c01824. Epub 2023 Jul 11.

Abstract

The synthesis of tertiary phosphines(III) has been a long-standing challenge in synthetic chemistry because of inevitable issues including harsh conditions, sensitive organometallic reagents, and prefunctionalized substrates in traditional synthesis. Herein, we report a strategically novel C(sp3)-H bond phosphorylation that enables the assembly of structurally diverse tertiary phosphines(III) from industrial phosphine(III) sources under mild photocatalytic conditions. The merger of ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) of FeCl3 with the hydrogen atom-transfer (HAT) process is the key for the generation of alkyl radicals from hydrocarbons. Strikingly, this catalytic system can be successfully applied for the polymerization of electron-deficient alkenes.