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

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. We report a nickel-catalyzed reductive cross-coupling between readily available nitroarenes and phosphine oxides to access phosphinic amides.

Automated summary

We present a nickel-catalyzed reductive cross-coupling method to synthesize phosphinic amides from readily available nitroarenes and phosphine oxides. The reaction employs NiCl2/Xantphos as catalyst, zinc as reductant, and TMSCl as additive, delivering various phosphinic amides in moderate to good yields. Notably, a gram-scale synthesis was successfully achieved, making this method practical for the synthesis of phosphinic amides. Mechanistic insights were also obtained from control experiments.