Systematic Study on the Catalytic Arsa-Wittig Reaction.

Efficient catalytic arsa-Wittig reactions have been developed by using 1-phenylarsolane as a catalyst. A wide array of aldehydes was converted to the corresponding olefins in high yields with moderate to excellent E stereoselectivity in the presence of a catalytic amount of 1-phenylarsolane. Moreover, density functional theory calculations were carried out to afford insight into the E/Z selectivity.