Easy access to phosphonothioates

A new and particularly mild method for the formation of phosphorus-sulfur bonds has been achieved through base-catalyzed addition of thiocyanate to the corresponding H-phosphine oxide, phosphinate, or phosphonate. This reaction procedure offers many advantages: the use as starting material of a stable and not oxygen-sensitive phosphorus(v) species, particularly mild and nonaqueous reaction conditions and workup (a pivotal point for these sensitive phosphonothioates), and, through optimized access to thiocyanates, a wider scope of substrates. This method has been applied to achieve the synthesis of substrate analogues for the study of antibody-catalyzed hydrolysis of acetylcholinesterase inhibitor PhX (11).