The synthesis of (isoxazol-4-ylmethyl)triphenylphosphonium salts derived from 5-alkyl-and 5-aryl-3-methylisoxazoles has been carried out. This method involves the preparation of several 4-(chloromethyl)isoxazoles which are suitable precusors for these phosphonium salts. The phosphonium salts were completely characterized by spectroscopic methods and were obtained in very good to quantitative yields.Chain extension in the carbohydrate series is of great interest for organic chemists. For this purpose, over the last few years several synthetic strategies have been developed. 1 Of special interest is the method employed by Dondoni 2 where D -tetrose and D -pentose derivatives were synthesized via alkenylthiazoles using 2,3-O -isopropylidene-D -glyceraldehyde as the initial substrate.With this idea in mind, our group has developed a synthetic method to 4-alkenylisoxazoles I . These compounds will be employed as key intermediates for the extension of the polyhydroxylated chain of sugars. 3In order to obtain these compounds, the synthesis of appropiate precusors such as 4-alkyltriphenylphosphonium salts II has been carried out. Their preparation is described in the present work.The use of 4-alkenylisoxazoles offers many advantages. On one hand, the easy stereocontrolled functionalization of the double bond by cis -dihydroxylation 4 or asymmetric epoxidation. 5, 6 On the other hand, the presence of an isoxazole ring that can act as a masked aldolic moiety, such as β -enamino ketone, β -diketone, etc. These groups are also of interest because they allow the synthesis of new heterocycles, for example, pyrazoles 7 that currently have great importance in pharmaceutical chemistry.The synthesis of (isoxazol-4-ylmethyl)triphenylphosphonium salts derived from 5-alkyl-and 5-aryl-3-methylisoxazoles is shown in Scheme 1.The preparation of the compounds 1-6 is carried out by two different methods. The compounds 3,5-dimethylisoxazole (1) and 3-methyl-5-phenylisoxazole (2) are obtained from the appropiate diketones by direct cyclization 8, 9 in 99% and 81% yield, respectively. Isoxazoles 3-6 are obtained from unsaturated α , β -oxo oximes according to the Alberola procedure. 10 It should be pointed out that compound 6 is obtained in low yield 11 and with trace amounts of 4-( p -dimethylaminophenyl)-4,5-dihydroisoxazole. This was not discussed in the reported procedure. 10The formation of 4-(chloromethyl) derivatives of 5-alkyland 5-aryl-3-methylisoxazoles has also been carried out by two different methods. The compound 7 , 4-(chloromethyl)-3,5-dimethylisoxazole, is obtained by the general procedure of Kochetkov. 12 However, this method does not give the desired compounds 8-11 . In these cases untransformed starting materials are recovered. The employed procedure for the preparation of compounds 8-11 is described in the experimental part (glacial acetic acid and high temperature, 100-110 ° C). The results are summarized in Table1.Although the achieved yields are moderate, this procedure has the advantage of affording the suitable C4-f...