Double Bonds between Phosphorus and

The initial step of olefin formation is a nucleophilic addition of the negatively polarized ylide carbon center (see the resonance structure 1 above) to the carbonyl carbon center of an aldehyde or ketone. A betain 8 is thus formed, which can cyclize to give the oxaphosphetane 9 as an intermediate. The latter decomposes to yield a trisubstituted phosphine oxide 4—e.g. triphenylphosphine oxide (with R = Ph) and an alkene 3. The driving force for that reaction is the formation of the strong double bond between phosphorus and oxygen ... 

In contrast to the P=C bond of phosphaalkenes (Section 8.2.2), double bonds between phosphorus and a heteroatom have not been used much as dipolarophiles. Most of the studies reported so far were devoted to the reactivity of the (X )P=N bond of iminophosphanes. Amino(iminophosphanes) react with diazoalkanes to form 4,5-dihydro-3//-l,2,3,4-triazaphospholes or, by N2 loss from the latter, to imino(alkylidene)-X -phosphoranes (5,238). With P-halogeno-(arylimino)phos-phanes 174 and the appropriate diazo compounds, 3//-l,2,3,4-triazaphospholes 175 (167) and 176 (239) (Scheme 8.40) were obtained as the major products after cycloaddition and eliminative aromatization. 

Figure 2.23 Examples of a special double bond between phosphorus and oxygen indicated by the arrow between 0 and P.

A second resonance structure can be written for a phosphorus ylide with a double bond between phosphorus and carbon. As a third-row element, phosphorus can have more than 8 electrons in its valence shell. 

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