The high temperatures required for cracking the cyanoacrylate oligomers, produced by the Knovenagel condensation of formaldehyde and a cyanoacetate, limit the synthetic diversity and the number of different side chains that can be incorporated into a cyanoacrylate prepared using this method. Accordingly, the diversity of cyanoacrylate monomers prepared industrially is quite limited. Disclosed herein is a method for the preparation of alpha-Cyanoacrylate ester monomers from a variety of phosphonium and ammonium alpha-cyanoacrylate salts. The phosphonium and ammonium alpha-cyanoacrylate salts are of the general formula:
