A novel and highly efficient Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling of triarylbismuths with a variety of P(O)-H compounds has been developed that proceeds smoothly without exclusion of moisture or air and provides a general and powerful tool for the preparation of various valuable arylphosphonates, arylphosphinates, and arylphosphine oxides, with high atom-economy, operational simplicity of the procedure, and good to high yield. The coupling reaction is the first example of transition-metal-catalyzed C-P bond construction using triarylbismuth compounds as substrates. DFT calculations reveal that C-P bond formation is the rate-determing step.

Experimental and Theoretical Study on Palladium-Catalyzed C-P Bond Formation via Direct Coupling of Triarylbismuths with P(O)-H Compounds. -(WANG, T.; SANG, S.; LIU, L.; QIAO, H.; GAO*, Y.; ZHAO, Y.; J. Org. Chem. 79 (2014) 2, 608-617, http://dx.