Microwave Ovens: They're not just for Cooking Anymore, Wittig Reaction Rate Enhancement

The formation of carbon-carbon double bonds is an important transformation in organic chemistry and is commonly achieved through the Wittig reaction, which converts aldehydes or ketones into alkenes using phosphorus ylides. While this reaction is widely used, traditional Wittig reactions often require long reaction times and can produce significant phosphine oxide byproducts. Recent research in our labs has shown that bromoacetyl tertiary amides can be employed as ylide precursors in catalytic Wittig reactions. Compared to other commonly used substrates, amide-based systems are known to be less reactive, which in turn makes these reactions slower. Because of this, improving the reaction rate is an important goal. Microwave-assisted synthesis has been shown to significantly reduce reaction times in many organic transformations. The focus of this project is to explore whether microwave heating can help accelerate the reaction.