Controlling the Activation of White Phosphorus: Formation of Phosphorous Acid and Ruthenium-Coordinated 1-Hydroxytriphosphane by Hydrolysis of Doubly Metalated P4

Transition-Metal-Mediated Functionalization of White Phosphorus

Recently there has been great interest in the reactivity of transition-metal (TM) centers towards white phosphorus (P4 ). This has ultimately been motivated by a desire to find TM-mediated alternatives to the current industrial routes used to transform P4 into myriad useful P-containing products, which are typically indirect, wasteful, and highly hazardous. Such a TM-mediated process can be divided into two steps: activation of P4 to generate a polyphosphorus complex TM-Pn , and subsequent functionalization of this complex to release the desired phosphorus-containing product. The former step has by now become well established, allowing the isolation of many different TM-Pn products. In contrast, productive functionalization of these complexes has proven extremely challenging and has been achieved only in a relative handful of cases. In this review we provide a comprehensive summary of successful TM-Pn functionalization reactions, where TM-Pn must be accessible by reaction of a TM precursor with P4 . We hope that this will provide a useful resource for continuing efforts that are working towards this highly challenging goal of modern synthetic chemistry.

pH-Dependent Degradation of Layered Black Phosphorus: Essential Role of Hydroxide Ions

The practical application of layered black phosphorus (LBP) is compromised by fast decomposition in the presence of H₂ O and/or O₂ . The role of H₂ O is controversial. Herein, we propose a hydroxide ion (OH^- )-initiated degradation mechanism for LBP to elucidate the role of H₂ O. We found that LBP degraded faster in alkaline solutions than in neutral or acidic solutions with or without O₂ . Degradation rates of LBP increased linearly from pH 4 to 10. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations showed that OH^- initiated the decomposition of LBP through breaking the P-P bond and forming a P-O bond. The detection of hypophosphite, generated from OH^- reacting with P atoms, confirmed the hypothesis. Protons acted in a way distinctive from OH^- , by inducing deposition/aggregation or forming a cation-π layer to protect LBP from degradation. This work reveals the degradation mechanism of LBP and thus facilitates the development of effective stabilization technologies.

Iodine activation of coordinated white phosphorus: formation and transformation of 1,3-dihydride-2-iodidecyclotetraphosphane

Double stabilization: Previously unknown polyphosphorus compounds are obtained by activation of white phosphorus (P(4)) coordinated between two CpRu(PPh(3))(2) moieties with iodine, and subsequent hydrolysis. The polyphosphorus compounds (P(4) H(2) I, P(4) H(2), P(3) H(5); see scheme, Cp=cyclopentadienyl) are all stabilized by coordination to two ruthenium centers.