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Organic synthesis

The Wittig reaction cleans up

Nature Chemistry volume 1, pages 685–687 (2009)Cite this article

The formation of a phosphine oxide with its strong P=O bond is the driving force for the classical Wittig reaction, but is wasteful and can pose problems during purification. A new development allowing the use of catalytic phosphorus reagents promises to clean up olefination chemistry.

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Figure 1: The development of a catalytic Wittig reaction.

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  1. Stephen P. Marsden is in the School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. s.p.marsden@leeds.ac.uk,

    Stephen P. Marsden

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  1. Stephen P. Marsden
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Marsden, S. The Wittig reaction cleans up. Nature Chem 1, 685–687 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.458

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