To a stirred solution of 8-diphenylphoshinoquinoline (1) (10 g, 31.95 mmol) in dry THF (150 mL) under nitrogen was added MeLi (39.9 mL, 1.6 M in diethyl ether, 1 mmol) at −78° C. and the solution was stirred at 0° C. for 10 minutes. The solution was cooled down to −78° C., saturated aqueous NH4Cl solution (100 mL) was added and the mixture was warmed to room temperature. Products were extracted with EtOAc, washed with water and saturated aqueous NaCl, dried (MgSO4) and evaporated to give 2 as a yellow oil, which solidified on standing (10.5 g, quantitative). 1H NMR (400.13 MHz, CDCl3) δ 7.4-7.25 (m, 10H, Ph-H), 6.86 (dd, 1H, J=7.2, 1.2, C5—H), 6.63 (ddd, 1H, J=7.6, 6.0, 1.6 Hz, C7—H), 6.49 (t, 1H, J=7.6 Hz, C6—H), 6.29 (d, 1H, J=9.6 Hz, C4—H), 5.54 (ddd, 1H, J=10.0, 4.0, 2.0 Hz, C3—H), 4.71 (d, 1H, J=7.6 Hz, N1—H), 4.35 (m, 1H, C2—H), 1.15 (d, 3H, J=6.4 Hz, C1′—CH3) ppm; 13C NMR (100.61 MHz, CDCl3) δ 147.0 (d, J=18.2 Hz), 135.5 (d, J=13.1 Hz), 135.4 (d, J=12.1 Hz), 134.2 (d, J=5.1 Hz), 133.4 (d, J=18.2 Hz), 133.3 (d, J=18.2 Hz), 128.5 (d, J=11.1 Hz), 128.4 (d, J=12.1 Hz), 128.0, 117.0, 116.1, 48.2, 24.2 ppm; 31P NMR (161.97 MHz, CDCl3) δ −23.2 ppm.
