Nucleophilic Addition to Carbonyl Compounds. Competition Between Hard (Amine) and Soft (Phosphite) Nucleophile

Abstract

In the reaction mixture of carbonyl compound, amine and diethyl phosphite several different reactions are observed. The formation of aminophosphonate (Kabachnik- Fields reaction) is frequently accompanied with the formation of hydroxyphosphonate (Pudovik reaction) or product of its rearrangement. ^1–3 This is due to the presence of one electrophile (carbonyl compound) and two nucleophiles (amine and phosphite) in the reaction mixture, which may compete for the electrophilic center.