Catalytic Appel Reaction Accessing the Mesoporous Substructure of a Robust and Heterogeneous Polyphosphamide

Abstract

AbstractPolyphosphamides are normally good flame retardants. Herein a mesoporous polyphosphamide (p‐PPA) with an accessible average pore diameter of <10 nm and a surface area of 1.773 m2/g has been synthesized via condensation of 1,3‐diamino benzene (DAB) and phenyl phosphinic dichloride (PPDC). 31P, 13C CP‐MAS solid‐state NMR, Raman, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) characterizations confirm the presence of ‐{PV(O)‐NH}‐ in the repeating unit of the p‐PPA that is further used as a catalytic mediator to perform the Appel reaction i. e., conversion of alcohols to halides with a broad substrate scope and high TON (561). The heterogeneity of p‐PPA allows easy recovery of organic halides and recycling of the catalyst many times. Mesoporous p‐PPA has further given a scope to perform shape‐selective conversion of primary alcohols with linear alkyl chain (1‐dodecanol) while a low conversion for the bulky secondary (cyclo‐hexanol) and tertiary alcohol (tert‐butanol) is observed. Perhaps, the phosphamide units present inside the porous channel are non‐preferable sites for bulkier alcohols, as evident from the competitive experiments. A comparatively less catalytic conversion obtained with an analogous non‐porous n‐PPA, made of tris(2‐aminoethyl)amine (TREN) linker, highlights the role of porosity in p‐PPA to enhance the accessibility of numerous ‐{PV(O)‐NH}‐ reactive units to increase the TON.