A one-pot reaction method was developed to efficiently synthesize stable phosphonate ylides and esters using activated acetylenes and triphenylphosphite, along with sulfonamides and NH-acids.
Characterization of the resulting ylides and phosphonate esters was conducted through single X-ray diffraction and NMR studies.
Dynamic NMR studies on a phosphonate ylide enabled the determination of the free energy barrier for the isomerization between the (E) and (Z) geometrical forms.