Triphenylphosphine Oxide Removal from Reactions: The Role of Solvent and Temperature

Here, a large-scale feasible, chromatography-free process to purge triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO) from the crude product of Mitsunobu and Wittig reactions has been developed. Divergence in physicochemical properties like polarity and solubility of TPPO against the product was utilized to precipitate TPPO directly from the reaction mixture and eliminate by simple filtration on a kilogram scale at a pilot plant with high purity of the product.

Automated summary

A large-scale, chromatography-free process has been developed to eliminate triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO) from the crude product of Mitsunobu and Wittig reactions. The divergence in physicochemical properties between TPPO and the product was harnessed to precipitate TPPO directly from the reaction mixture, resulting in high purity of the final product through simple filtration at a pilot plant.