Nickel-catalyzed Arbuzov reactions of aryl triflates with triethyl phosphite

An efficient method was developed for the nickel-catalyzed phosphonylation of aryl triflates with triethyl phosphite, in which KBr as an additive promoted the S_N2 catalytic step. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of nickel-catalyzed Arbuzov reactions of aryl triflates. Most of the substrates showed good reactivity under this catalytic system.