Palladium-Catalyzed Benzylic Phosphorylation of Diarylmethyl Carbonates

A palladium-catalyzed benzylic substitution of tert-butyl diarylmethyl carbonates with a pinacol-derived H-phosphonate proceeds to deliver the corresponding benzylic phosphorylated products in good yields. Moreover, the asymmetric synthesis is possible via a Pd/(R-p,R-p')-(S)-Mandyphos-catalyzed kinetic resolution-DYKAT (dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation) sequence, and optically active alpha-chiral diarylmethylphosphonates are obtained with synthetically useful yields and enantiomeric ratios (up to 50% and 92:8 er).