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.