Process for production of vinylphosphonic acids and silyl esters thereof

1. A process of producing a compound of Formula IA:

wherein each of R 1 –R 3 is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, halogen and a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group and aryl group, said process comprising reacting a compound of Formula II:

wherein R 5 is a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group and X is a halogen with an organosilyl halide of Formula III:

R 4 4−n SiX n   (III)

wherein R 4 is selected from the group consisting of a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group, aryl group, and alkoxy group and X is as defined above and n is an integer of from 1 to 3, to form an intermediate compound and reacting the intermediate compound with a proton donor to produce the compound of Formula IA.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the compound of Formula III has an n value of 1 and the intermediate compound is a compound of Formula IB

wherein R 1 –R 4 are as defined above.

3. The process of claim 2 wherein the compound of Formula III is selected from the group consisting of trimethylsilyl chloride, trimethylsilyl bromide, triethylsilyl chloride and triethylsilyl bromide.

4. The process of claim 3 wherein the compound of Formula III is trimethylsilyl chloride.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein the compound of Formula III has an n value of 2 and the intermediate compound has repeating units represented by Formula IC

wherein R 1 –R 4 is as described above.

6. The process of claim 5 wherein the compound of Formula III is selected form the group consisting of dimethylsilyl dichloride, dimethylsilyl dibromide, diethylsilyl dichioride and diethylsilyl dibromide.

7. The process of claim 6 wherein the compound of Formula III is diethylsilyl dichioride.

8. The process of claim 1 wherein the compound of Formula III has an n value of 3 and the intermediate compound has repeating units represented by Formula ID

wherein R 4 is as defined above and R 6 is represented by groups covered by Formula IV

wherein R 1 –R 4 are as defined previously.

9. The process of claim 8 wherein the compound of Formula III is selected from the group consisting of methylsilyl trichloride, methylsilyl tribromide, ethylsilyl trichloride and ethylsilyl tribromide.

10. The process of claim 9 wherein the compound of Formula III is methylsilyl trichloride.

11. The process of claim 1 comprising conducting the process at a temperature of from about 50 to 250° C. at from about 1 to 10 atmospheres.

12. The process of claim 11 comprising conducting the process at a temperature of from about 120° C. to 160° C. at a pressure of from about 3 to 5 atmospheres.

13. The process of claim 1 comprising reacting the compound of Formula II with at least a stoichiometric amount of the compound of Formula III.

14. The process of claim 13 comprising reacting the compound to Formula II with at least two equivalents of the compound of Formula III when n is 1.

15. The process of claim 14 comprising reacting the compound of Formula II with 2 to 3 equivalents of the compound of Formula III when n is 1.

16. The process of claim 1 further comprising conducting the process in the presence of an effective amount of a reaction accelerator.

17. The process of claim 16 wherein the reaction accelerator is a halogen containing compound.

18. The process of claim 17 wherein the halogen containing compound is selected from the group consisting bromine, iodine, and lithium iodide.

19. The process of claim 16 wherein the effective amount of the reaction accelerator is from about 0.1 to 0.5 mol%.

20. The process of claim 1 further comprising after the reaction of compounds of Formula II and III, removing any unreacted compound of Formula III and any dihaloalkanes which may have formed.

21. The process of claim 1 wherein the proton donor is selected from the group consisting of water and alkanols.