Reactions in the presence of organic phosphites,II: Low-temperature amidatior in solvent

Polyamides and related model compounds were prepared from carboxy acids and primary amines by reacting them with triphenylphosphite in an appropriate solvent at 100°C. The reactions proceeded in the absence of organic base but were accelerated by the addition of bases such as pyridine. Nevertheless, even the powerful combination of ¹³C and ³¹P NMR failed to indicate the presence of pyridinium phosphite in the reaction mixture. In the reaction of a primary amine and carboxyl groups a detectable amount of the diphenoxy aminophosphine intermediate was observed. The end products are the amides, phenol, and diphenyl phosphite. When primary amine was not present a slow formation of a phenyl ester of the carboxylic acid was evident. All the intermediate species and the end products were formed with or without added pyridine. A mixed anhydride of carboxylic acid and phosphite was never seen. The results in this article are fundamentally the same as those in the companion article (I) for which the data were obtained at 280°C in the absence of solvent and base. However, because the reaction went quickly to completion at 280°C, the diphenoxy aminophosphine intermediate was not observed. A mechanism for the amidation in which the diphenoxy aminophosphine is an initial reaction intermediate is proposed. This species reacts with the carboxylic acid through an intramolecular substitution to give an amide. This mechanism may be valid for the high-temperature reactions as well. Several minor unclear points are indicated.