Patent ID: 8609901

Claim:
A method for producing a diphosphite of Structure I, comprising the steps of: contacting a phosphorochloridite of Structure II, with a bisaryl compound selected from the group consisting of Structure III, Structure IV, and Structure V, and a tertiary organic amine, comprising a basic nitrogen atom or a plurality of nitrogen atoms, to produce a reaction mixture comprising a diphosphite of Structure I; wherein, the contacting step is carried out by at least one contacting method selected from the group consisting of, (i). feeding the bisaryl compound to a mixture of phosphorochloridite and tertiary organic amine, and (ii). feeding the bisaryl compound and the tertiary organic amine either separately or as a mixture to the phosphorochloridite; and the contacting step is carried out by controlling the feeding such that: a first mole ratio is maintained at equal to or greater than 2.0 during at least an initial stage and a final stage of the contacting step, wherein the first mole ratio is defined as moles of phosphorochloridite in the reaction mixture divided by moles of bisaryl compound fed to the reaction mixture, and a second mole ratio is at least 1.0 during the contacting step, wherein the second mole ratio is defined as moles of basic nitrogen atoms from the tertiary organic amine fed to the reaction mixture divided by moles of phosphorochloridite in the reaction mixture; and the method is characterized in that the contacting occurs at a temperature from about 15° C. to about 110° C. to produce the diphosphite in the reaction mixture with a selectivity between 70% and 100% from the bisaryl compound; wherein, the selectivity equals moles of diphosphite produced in the reaction mixture divided by total moles of the bisaryl compound contacting the phosphorochloridite; wherein in Structures I to V, R 1 and R 2 are the same or different, substituted or unsubstituted, monovalent aryl groups; each of R 3 , R 4 , R 5 , R 6 , R 7 , R 8 , R 9 , R 10 , R 11 and R 12 is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, aryloxy, heteroaryloxy, alkyloxy, alkoxyalkyl, acetal, carboaryloxy, carboalkoxy, arylcarbonyl, alkylcarbonyl, oxazole, amine, amide, nitrile, mercaptyl, and halogenyl groups; and − O-Q-O − is a dianion of the bisaryl compound.