Milestones in Microwave Chemistry

This book looks back on thirty-five years of microwave (MW)
chemistry and explains how the application of the MW technique became an
integral part of R&D, eventually becoming recognized in industry. Further,
it details how MW chemistry has undergone a dynamic development in the past
three decades, one driven by the advent of increasingly sophisticated
professional MW reactors in place of the kitchen MW ovens used in earlier
years. A major part of the book shows how substitutions, esterifications,
amidations, hydrolyses, alkylations, eliminations, dehydrations, condensations,
cyclizations, C-C couplings and the modification of heterocycles can be
performed advantageously under MW irradiation, as the reaction times are
shorter, while the selectivity and yields are higher; it also explains why in
most cases, the reactions can be performed under solvent-free conditions. MW
irradiation within the sphere of organophosphorus chemistry is showcased and
typical reactions, such as the direct derivatization of phosphinic acids,
alkylating esterifications, Diels-Alder reactions, the inverse Wittig-type
reaction, fragmentations, the Arbuzov reaction, the synthesis of
α-hydroxyphosphonates and α-aminophosphonates (the Kabachnik-Fields
condensation), deoxygenations and P-C coupling reactions are described under MW
conditions. In closing, the advantages of MW chemistry such as faster reactions
and the possibility of simplifying the catalytic systems are addressed.