A one-pot procedure for the syntheses of (1-hydroxysec-alkyl)methylphosphinates from ketones, hexamethyldisilazane and ethyl methylphosphinate was developed. The hydroxy group could be removed by a modified Barton/McCombie radical deoxygenation procedure. The sec-alkylmethylphosphinates can be dealkylated/hydrolyzed by treatment with trimethylsilyl bromide or refluxing in hydrochloric acid. This is a convenient route to a variety of sec-alkylmethylphosphinates, which are difficult to prepare by other methods.The phosphinic acid group and methylphosphinic acid group ( Figure 1) continue to attract considerable interest as bioisosteric replacements for carboxylic acid groups, 1,2 being potential regulators, mediators or inhibitors of metabolic processes. 3 Several methylphosphinic acids act as potent agonists or antagonists at carboxylic acid receptors, e.g. the cholecystokinin receptor, 4 the b-adrenergic receptor, 5 and their analogs act at the receptors for the inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) 6-8 and the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. 9,10 Furthermore, many phosphinic and methylphosphinic acids are inhibitors of metabolic enzymes, e.g. inhibitors of aminoacyl-t-RNA synthetase, 3 creatine kinase, 11 ornithine decarboxylase, 12 nitric oxide synthase, 13 matrix metalloproteinases, 14,15 and glutamine synthetase [16][17][18][19] including many herbicides like the widely used phosphinothricin. 20 A large number of phosphinic acids have also been prepared as transition state mimics for studies or inhibition of enzymes which have carboxylic acid derivatives as substrates. [21][22][23][24] Although the phosphinic acids often show similar biological profiles as methylphosphinic acids, recent animal experiments indicate that the methylphosphinic acid moiety is considerably more metabolically stable than the phosphinic acid moiety. 7 Figure 1 The phosphinic acid and methylphosphinic acid groups Classical routes to the esters of alkylmethylphosphinic acids are: 1) alkylation of dialkyl alkylphosphonites (the Michaelis-Arbuzov reaction), 10,25-27 2) alcoholysis of dialkylchlorophosphines, 28-33 3) reaction of alkylphosphonohalides with Grignard reagents, 34-40 and 4) cleavage of dialkylphenylphosphine oxides with NaOH. 41-43 Newer routes include: 5) stepwise silylation and alkylation of phosphinates (the silyl-Arbuzov reaction), 6,7,44-46 6) Michael addition of alkyl methylphosphinates to a,b-unsaturated substrates, 2,44,47,48 7) radical addition of alkyl alkylphosphinates to alkenes, and 8) alkylation of the anion of alkyl alkylphosphinates (the Michaelis-Becker reaction). 6,49,50 These routes all have some drawbacks involving either reactive trivalent phosphorus compounds or poisonous compounds as intermediates, or rather harsh conditions. Furthermore, the most popular routes (the Arbuzov and Michaelis-Becker reactions) generally give very low or no yield when alkylation with non-activated halides or with sec-alkyl halides are required. 26,45,49 As a consequence of these difficulties, only ve...