Tris(trimethylsilyl) phosphite

UsesTris(trimethylsilyl) Phosphite is used in the studies of bisphosphonic acids as effective inhibitor of glutamine synthetase, a promising approach for the discovery of novel drugs against tuberculosis. It also acts as a reagent in the preparation of substituted calix[4]arenes bearing one or two α-hydroxymethylphosphonic acid fragments at upper rim of macrocycle as inhibitors of glutathione S-transferase in vitro.

PreparationBy silylation of anhydrous phosphorous acid (dried by repeated azeotropic evaporation of a solution in THF with dry benzene) with excess Chlorotrimethylsilane and excess Triethylamine in dimethoxyethane, toluene, or Et2O-THF, followed by evaporation of the solvent and vacuum distillation of the residue. The residue, which contains a mixture of tris(trimethylsilyl) phosphite and bis(trimethylsilyl) phosphonate [HP(O)(OTMS)2], can also be heated with sodium (140 °C, 13-22 h), followed by vacuum distillation to obtain pure tris(trimethylsilyl) phosphite.