Can the Hell Volhard Zelinsky reaction occur without Br2? Meaning can it occur i

Question

Can the Hell Volhard Zelinsky reaction occur without Br2? Meaning can it occur if only PBr3 is used? My professor is telling me this is the case, but I cannot for the life of me find any other source anywhere which says that you can do this reaction without using Br2. To me I would imagine that 1) the PBr3 would convert the original carboxcylic acid to an acyl halide and then 2) when you added water the acyl halide would be converted back to the original carboxylic acid sooo...essentially no reaction. Am I missing something here?

Explanation / Answer

yes i think you are quite right because Br2 is used in the reaction mechanism.

However you can fix your problem by carrying out the reaction at high temperature using only PBr5, as it will decompose into PBr3 and Br2.

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