Phosphoric Trichloride

Introduction

Phosphoric trichloride is a colorless, clear and transparent irritating liquid. Its structure is a tetrahedral consisting of one P=O double bond and three P-Cl bonds. POCl₃ reacts with alcohols to produce alkyl phosphate esters and is therefore a versatile phosphating agent. [¹] As a selective and inexpensive reagent giving high yields in simple operations under mild conditions, it is tremendously used in organic synthesis, for example, in chlorination, [²] regiospecific dehydration and ring-closing reactions. [³] Its use has been reported in several types of name reactions, for example, in the Bischler-Napieralski [4] and Vilsmeier-Haack reactions. [5]

Figure 1 Phosphoric trichloride

References

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