Photo-assisted formation of a chelating diphos ligand from PPh3 and a cyclometallated [P(C6H4)(C6H5)2]− ligand. Crystal structure of Pd{η2-o-[P(C6H5)2]2(C6H4)}Br2

The cyclometallated palladium compound, Pd[η2-(C6H4)P(C6H5)2]Br[P(C6H5)3] (1), in the solid state by action of light, evolves to give Pd{η2-o-[P(C6H5)2]2(C6H4)}Br2 (2). This compound contains the diphosphine, o-[P(C6H5)2]2(C6H4), as chelated ligand that is formed by a couple reaction of the metallated ligand η2-[(C6H4)P(C6H5)2]− and the coordinated arylphosphine. A study by NMR spectroscopy confirms that the o-phenylene bridge in the diphosphine ligand in 2 comes from the metallated phosphine ligand in 1.