Base-Catalyzed Hydrophosphination of Azobenzenes with Diarylphosphine Oxides: A Precise Construction of N-N-P Unit

Addition of diarylphosphine oxides to the N=N double bond of azobenzenes leads to the formation of the P-substituted hydrazines in up to 98% yield for 24 examples, and the formation of diphenylphosphinic amides was observed in three substrates. This strategy features tolerance of a wide range of functional groups, simple operation, and mild reaction conditions. Specially, this method can be also applied to the gram-scale synthesis of the product. A polar reaction mechanism is also proposed based on control experiments.