Catalytic Phosphite Hydrolysis under Neutral Reaction Conditions

Cationic phosphametallocene-based platinum(II) aqua complexes were used as efficient precatalysts for the hydrolysis of aromatic and aliphatic tertiary phosphites under neutral reaction conditions at room temperature, leading to the selective cleavage of one P-O bond of the phosphite. NMR labeling experiments combined with stoichiometric model reactions and theoretical density functional theory calculations, performed with the appropriate model compounds, shed light on the operative catalytic cycle, which comprises intramolecular water molecule transfer to the cis-coordinated phosphite molecule.