Isodesmic metathesis chemistry: A novel way to recycle P(V)

Since the P=O bond is thermodynamically inert, reducing phosphine oxides to phosphines is notoriously challenging. This preview high-lights the recent findings of Xue et al., who describe, through thermodynamic and mechanistic investigation, a novel synthetic pathway for reducing phosphine oxide by employing isodesmic reactions without stoichiometric activators. the the of