Syntheses and reactivity of novel unsaturated cyclic compounds containing phosphorus atoms

Kinetic stabilization of compounds containing heavy main-group elements through the use of bulky substituents is of current interest. The widely used 2,4,6-tri-t-butylphenyl group (Mes*) is recognized as a powerful bulky protecting group and has enabled us to successfully prepare various types of phosphorus compounds with unusual structures. When a phosphaalkyne carrying Mes* was treated with tBuLi and then quenched with MeOH, a 1,3-diphosphacyclobutene was obtained, whereas, when MeI was used as a quencher, a 1,3-diphosphacyclobutane-2,4-diyl was formed almost quantitatively as a stable biradical compound. The reaction mechanism for the formation of both compounds can be explained by a phosphide intermediate, which can be formed via dimerization of the phosphaalkyne promoted by tBuLi. Some other diphosphacyclobutane-2,4-diyls with various substituents were prepared in a similar fashion and showed interesting reactivities including ring expansion, oxidation, isomerization and so on.