The title compound, diisopropyl (2,5-dimethylpyrrolidin- 2-yl)phosphon
ate, C12H26NO3P, was isolated as colorless crystals during the synthes
is of alpha-aminoalkenylphosphonates and their transformation to alpha
-phosphorylated pyrrolidines via an aminomercuration-demercuration seq
uence. As the stereochemical selectivity of this type of reaction is d
ifficult to predict because of its dependancy on experimental conditio
ns, the crystal structure is reported here. X-ray analysis shows a tra
ns stereochemistry of the two methyl groups.