Visible-light-mediated -phosphorylation of N-aryl tertiary amines through the formation of electron-donor-acceptor complexes: synthetic and mechanistic studies

This work describes an efficient -phosphorylation of a wide variety of N-aryl tertiary amines under mild conditions. It consists of a simple combination of amines (electron donors) with N-ethoxy-2-methylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate (electron acceptor) in the presence of P(v)-H compounds under visible light irradiation. Physical organic investigations support the formation of an electron-donor-acceptor complex (amine/pyridinium ion) as a key intermediate.