Probing the mechanism of allylic substitution of Morita-Baylis-Hillman acetates (MBHAs) by using the silyl phosphonite paradigm: scope and applications of a versatile transformation.

A P-C bond-forming reaction between silyl phosphonites and Morita-Baylis-Hillman acetates (MBHAs) is explored as a general alternative towards medicinally relevant β-carboxyphosphinic structural motifs. Conversion rates of diversely substituted MBHAs to phosphinic acids 9 or 14 that were recorded by using (31) P NMR spectroscopy revealed unexpected reactivity differences between ester and nitrile derivatives. These kinetic profiles and DFT calculations support a mechanistic scenario in which observed differences can be explained from the "lateness" of transition states.