One‐Pot Wittig Reactions in Aqueous Media: A Rapid and Environmentally Benign Synthesis of α,β‐Unsaturated Carboxylic Esters and Nitriles

Abstract

One‐pot Wittig reactions of ethyl bromoacetate and bromoacetonitrile with aldehydes in the presence of PPh₃ and LiOH in water were investigated. Most of the olefination reactions completed within 5–120 min in refluxing water containing 1.2 M LiCl to afford the olefin products in 71–97% yields with 100:0–55:45 ratios of E:Z isomers.

Keywords:

• Aldehydes
• aqueous reaction
• one‐pot reaction
• Wittig reaction

Acknowledgment

This work was supported in part by a research grand to J. Wu from Zhejiang Province Natural Science Fund (Y404302), China. The authors also thank Wei‐Min Dai for his encouragement and discussion during the course of this study.