Cover Feature: Sequential Nucleophilic Substitution of Phosphorus Trichloride with Alcohols in a Continuous-Flow Reactor and Consideration of a Mechanism for Reduced Over-reaction through the Addition of Imidazole (Chem. Eur. J. 37/2022)

Abstract

Sequential nucleophilic substitution of phosphorus trichloride with alcohols has been achieved. Over-reaction was suppressed by rapid mixing through micro-flow technology, and asymmetric phosphotriesters containing acid- and/or base-labile functional groups were synthesized in good to high yields. Moreover, a mechanistic study by using DFT calculations suggested interesting reaction pathways. More information can be found in the Research Article by S. Fuse and co-workers (DOI: 10.1002/chem.202200932).