If, as a synthetic chemist, you want to invert the configuration of an alcohol in which the OH group is at a chiral centre, then the Mitsunobu reaction has been a stalwart for many years. Now a catalytic version has been published, [cite]10.1126/science.aax3353[/cite] along with a proposed mechanism.
Displacing OH groups catalytically The Mitsunobu reaction is widely used to invert the configuration of alcohols. However, its major drawback is the need to activate the alcohol with a full equivalent of phosphine, thereby generating a phosphine oxide co-product. Beddoe et al. report a phosphine oxide compound that achieves the same result catalytically (see the Perspective by Longwitz and Werner). The key is a phenol substituent that can reversibly bond through its oxygen to phosphorus, forming a ring that the alcohol opens. The phosphorus thus remains in the +5 oxidation state throughout the reaction, and water is the only by-product. Science , this issue p. 910 ; see also p. 866