The synthesis of flame retardant 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphen-anthrene-10-oxide (DOPO) involves many steps of chemical reactions, including esterification, Friedel-Crafts acylation, hydrolysis and dehydration. We analyzed the composition of the products from each of the steps with 31P NMR. The results were used to deduce the reaction routes and to optimize the reaction conditions. Based on the results, some key factors that may influ...