Catalyst- and reagent-free 1,6-hydrophosphonylation of p-quinone methides: a practical approach for the synthesis of diarylmethyl phosphine oxides.

We developed a catalyst-, reagent-, and additive-free protocol with 100% atom economy for the synthesis of diarylmethyl phosphine oxides via 1,6-hydrophosphonylation of p-quinone methides using water as a green solvent. The reaction showed broad scope with excellent functional group tolerance. The practicability of this method was demonstrated by carrying out the reaction on the gram scale whereby product was obtained in high yield by the filtration technique avoiding chromatographic purification.