Nickel-catalyzed reductive coupling of nitroarenes and phosphine oxides to access phosphinic amides

Abstract

We report a nickel-catalyzed reductive cross-coupling between readily available nitroarenes and phosphine oxides to access phosphinic amides. This reaction used NiCl₂/Xantphos as a catalyst, zinc as a reductant, and TMSCl as an additive, resulting in various phosphinic amides with moderate to good yields. A gram-scale synthesis of this reaction was successfully achieved, which provides a practical way to synthesize phosphinic amides. Furthermore, a mechanism was proposed according to control experiments.