Transformation of Highly Hydrophobic Triarylphosphines into Amphiphiles via Staudinger Reaction with Hydrophilic Trichlorophenyl Azide

Abstract

Owing to its hydrophobic properties and reactivity, triarylphosphines (PAr3) are promising precursors for the development of new amphiphiles. However, an efficient and reliable synthetic method for amphiphiles based on highly hydrophobic PAr3 is still required. Herein, we report a straightforward transformation of highly hydrophobic PAr3 into amphiphiles via the Staudinger reaction. By simply mixing PAr3 and a hydrophilic trichlorophenyl azide containing two hydrophilic chains, amphiphiles bearing a N=P bond (i.e., an azaylide moiety) were quantitatively formed. The obtained azaylide‐based amphiphiles were remarkably water‐soluble, enabling their spontaneous self‐assembly into 2 nm‐sized micelles composed of 4–5 molecules in water with a low critical micelle concentration (up to 0.05 mM or less) due to the effective intermolecular interactions among the hydrophobic surfaces. Although the azaylide moiety is easily hydrolyzed in the presence of water, the azaylide in the amphiphiles displayed notable stability in water even at 60 h, which stems from the LUMO modulation induced by the presence of three electron‐withdrawing chloro groups and two twisted alkoxycarbonyl groups, according to DFT calculations. An amphiphile having a large hydrophobic surface solubilized various hydrophobic organic dyes through efficient intermolecular interactions, resulting in the dyes exhibiting either monomer or excimer emissions in water.