Iron‐Photocatalyzed C(sp3)–H Phosphonylation of Alkanes

Ya Dong, Wangyujing Han, Hanwen Zhang, Santosh K Pagire, Harry Meats, Adam Noble, Varinder K Aggarwal · 2026

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Description

Ya Dong and co-authors report a light-driven method to attach phosphorus groups directly to unactivated carbon-hydrogen bonds in alkanes, published in 2026. The products, alkyl phosphonate esters, are useful building blocks and appear in many bioactive molecules. Most methods build the carbon-phosphorus bond by swapping out an existing group, not by using a plain C-H bond.

Their method uses a hydrogen atom transfer strategy with an iron photocatalyst. The key was a new phosphite trap, built from a mandelonitrile base, whose leaving group lets the catalyst turn over well. The reaction tolerated many functional groups and favored less hindered C-H bonds. It could also install phosphonate groups late, into complex molecules, with good site selectivity.

Catalog record

CREATORYa Dong, Wangyujing Han, Hanwen Zhang, Santosh K Pagire, Harry Meats, Adam Noble, Varinder K Aggarwal
YEAR2026
COLLECTIONPAPERS
FORMATTXT
FILE SIZE22 KB
VERSION1.0
LICENSECC BY 4.0
RIGHTSCC BY
SOURCEEurope PMC

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13285471

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