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Lora Baldwin

Phosphoryl bromide reaction with benzoic acid

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So the correct answer (according to my teacher) is that R-COBr is generated from the reaction of POBr3 with R-COOH (benzoic acid)

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Well actually @Waylander and @Nilay Ghosh are both correct in a way. To convert carboxylic acids into acyl chloride, $\ce{PCl5}$ is often used as a chlorinating agent , which yields an acyl chloride and $\ce{POCl3}$ (and $\ce{HCl}$) as a by-product.

This $\ce{POBr3}$ (or likewise $\ce{POCl3}$) is essentially a dehydrating agent and is thus used to dehydrate alcohols to alkenes(1)

POBr3 promoted dehydration via E2 elimination

or brominate(2) (in some cases) to form alkyl bromides.Deoxy bromination using POBr3

But this dehydrating capability might also be used on carboxylic acids to convert them into their anhydrides just like $\ce{P4O10}$, though there's no such special mention of the viability of the reaction progress.

But since you're really asking, I think conversion of the acid into its anhydride could be a possible outcome in presence of a dehydrating agent $\ce{POBr3}$.

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