High-energy phosphonium compounds, the N-phosphonium salts of pyridines, were prepared by the oxidation of phosphorous acid and its esters with mercuric salts or halogens in pyridines, or by a hydrolysis-dehydration reaction of diphenyl and triaryl phosphites or phosphonites. These salts are very reactive to nucleophiles, activating carboxyl, amino, or hydroxyl compounds via the corresponding N-phosphonium salts to yield carboxylic amides and esters in high yields on further aminolysis, alcoholysis, and acidolysis. These reactions, especially the hydrolysis-dehydration reactions with phosphites, were successfully extended to the direct polycondensation reaction of dicarboxylic acids with diamines, of free α-amino acids or dipeptides, and of carbon dioxide and disulfide with diamines under mild conditions, yielding linear polymers of high molecular weight (polyamides, polypeptides, polyureas, and polythioureas).