We used the example of benzyl chloride (Ia) and 1-chloromethylnaphthalene (Ib) to show for the first time that arylalkyl chlorides can be reduced with phosphine generated together with hydrogen from red phosphorus in the KOH3water3organic solvent (dioxane, toluene) system [1]. The reaction is accomplished by bubbling the phosphine3hydrogen mixture through the arylmethyl chloride I3KOH3DMSO system heated to 85390oC. The yields of toluene IIa ...
[Trofimov, Boris A.; Malysheva, Svetlana F.; Belogorlova, Nataliya A.; Kuimov, Vladimir A.; Albanov, Alexander I.; Gusarova, Nina K. European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2009 , # 20 p. 3427 - 3431]