Dephenylation of triphenylbismuth(v) and antimony(v) derivatives in a methyl acrylate—methanol system in the presence of copper and palladium salts

Abstract

The influence of the central metal atom and acid residue in a molecule of organometallic compound Ph 3 MX 2 (M = Bi, Sb; X = Cl, Br, OAc, O 2 CEt) on the direction and yield of dephenylation products in a methyl acrylate-methanol system in the presence of Cu(OAc) 2 and Na 2 PdCl 2 (OAc) 2 was studied at 50 °C in acetonitrile. The main product of dephenylation of the antimony compounds is methyl cinnamate (yield 0.31-1.59 moles per mole of the starting Ph 3 SbX 2 ), while anisole (0.55-0.97 mol) and halobenzene (0.67-1.04 mol) are those for compounds Ph 3 Bi(O 2 CR) 2 and Ph 3 BiHal 2 , respectively.