Hydrophosphonylation of Aldehydes Catalyzed by Chiral Organic Base

Significance

A highly efficient hydrophosphonylation of aldehydes was achieved. The in situ generated chiral strong organic base catalyst 2 gave α-hydroxy phosphonates 3 in high yields with high enantioselectivity. Additionally, the ability of the catalyst to generate a considerable amount of the phosphite anion as highly reactive P-nucleophile was observed by ^³¹P NMR analysis at -98 ˚C.