A high yielding preparation of α-trimethylsilyloxyphosphonates by silylation of α-hydroxyphosphonates with HMDS catalyzed by iodine

A general, versatile, high yielding and convenient procedure for the immediate conversion of various α-hydroxyphosphonates to α-trimethylsilyloxyphosphonates under neutral conditions using HMDS in the presence of a catalytic amount of iodine is described.