White phosphorus reactions

Halophosphines are produced by reactions of phosphorus with alkyl chlorides, alkyl bromides, or aryl bromides in solution (12) and by reaction of red phosphorus in tlie presence of copper with alkyl halides in tlie vapor phase (13). Both methods require temperatures in excess of 2 )0°. The preparation of halopliosphines in solution is illustrated by the results of uncatalyzed white phosphorus reactions summarized in Table I (12). Alkyl dihalopliosphiues are the predominant products under these conditions, but appreciable yields of dialkylmonohalophos-phines are also obtained. The reaction temperature requirement de-... 

White phosphorus is very reactive. It has an appreciable vapour pressure at room temperature and inflames in dry air at about 320 K or at even lower temperatures if finely divided. In air at room temperature it emits a faint green light called phosphorescence the reaction occurring is a complex oxidation process, but this happens only at certain partial pressures of oxygen. It is necessary, therefore, to store white phosphorus under water, unlike the less reactive red and black allotropes which do not react with air at room temperature. Both red and black phosphorus burn to form oxides when heated in air, the red form igniting at temperatures exceeding 600 K,... 

Both white and red phosphorus dissolve in, for example, concentrated nitric acid to form phosphoricfV) acid, the reaction between hot acid and white phosphorus being particularly violent. 

The head element nitrogen does not react. White phosphorus, however, reacts when warmed with a concentrated solution of a strong alkali to form phosphine, a reaction which can be regarded as a disproportionation reaction of phosphorus ... 

White and red phosphorus combine directly with chlorine, bromine and iodine, the red allotrope reacting in each case at a slightly higher temperature. The reactions are very vigorous and white phosphorus is spontaneously inflammable in chlorine at room temperature. Both chlorine and bromine first form a trihalide ... 

Phosphine can be prepared by the reaction of a strong alkali with white phosphorus potassium, sodium and barium hydroxides may be used ... 

White Phosphorus Oxidation. Emission of green light from the oxidation of elemental white phosphoms in moist air is one of the oldest recorded examples of chemiluminescence. Although the chemiluminescence is normally observed from sotid phosphoms, the reaction actually occurs primarily just above the surface with gas-phase phosphoms vapor. The reaction mechanism is not known, but careful spectral analyses of the reaction with water and deuterium oxide vapors indicate that the primary emitting species in the visible spectmm are excited states of (PO)2 and HPO or DPO. Ultraviolet emission from excited PO is also detected (196). 

Unusual Si/P compounds are also beginning to appear, for example, the tetrasilahexaphospha-adamantane derivative [(Pr Si)4(PH)6] (1), which is made by reacting Pc SiCl3 with Li[Al(PH2)4]- Again, reaction of white phosphorus, P4, with tetramesityldisilene, Mes2Si=SiMes2, in toluene... 

The commonest form of phosphorus, and the one which is usually formed by condensation from the gaseous or liquid states, is the waxy, cubic, white form o -P4 (d 1.8232 gcm at 20°C). This, paradoxically, is also the most volatile and reactive solid form and thermodynamically the least stable. It is the slow phosphorescent oxidation of the vapour above these crystals that gives white phosphorus its most characteristic property. Indeed, the emission of yellow-green light from the oxidation of P4 is one of the earliest recorded examples of chemiluminescence, though the details of the reaction... 

M.2 Phosphorus trichloride, PCI(, is produced from the reaction of white phosphorus, P4, and chlorine P4(s) +... 

Carbon-phosphorus double bonds are also formed in addition reactions of tris(trimethylsilyl)phosphine 1692 (which can be readily prepared from white phosphorus, sodium, and TCS 14 [13a,b,c]) to give oxazohum fluorides 1691 which then give the azaphospholes 1694, via 1693 [3, 14]. On addition of 1692 to 1695, the diazaphosphole 1696 [3, 15] is prepared, whereas l,3-azaphospholo[l,2a]pyridines 1698 [16] are formed from 1692 and 1697, and 1,3-thiaphospholes 1700 are formed from the dithiohum fluorides 1699 [17]. l,3-Benzodiphospholyl anions 1703 are generated by reaction of acid chlorides with the dihthium salts 1701, via 1702 [18] (Scheme 11.3). 

Japanese workers have prepared diethyl phosphite in 43% yield from the reaction of white phosphorus with ethanol and oxygen. 

The white phosphorus/sulphur mixture either combusts or detonates when it is heated. It forms diphosphorus pentasulphide. Red phosphorus reacts with more difficulty there is a need for an ignition flame and as a result of which the mixture combusts violently. This reaction is thought to lead to tetraphosphorus trisulphide. 

There have been several accidents with metalloids detonation with fluorine very violent reaction with boron at 700°C, and ignition with white phosphorus. In the last case, the dangerous character of the reaction of the preparation of hydrogen iodide by distillation of the phosphorus/moist iodide mixture was also mentioned. The formation of phosphonium iodide often causes the conduits of the apparatus to block, which causes the apparatus to detonate due to overpressure. Several accidents involve this factor, which is not due to a reaction that is intrinsically dangerous. 

The reaction of white phosphorus with a mixture of 2,4,6-tri(t-butyl)bromobenzene and 2,4,6-tri-(t-butyl)phenyllithium... 

The reactions of white phosphorus with tetraalkylammonium cyanides in the presence of a crown ether in acetonitrile give rise to the dicyanophosphide ion, which is found to react with a variety of anionic phosphorus nucleophiles with displacement of cyanide ion to generate new P-P bonded compounds.7... 

The highly hindered disilene 2 did not react with white phosphorus, even under forcing conditions. With disilene 3, which is more hindered than 1 but less so than 2, the reaction with P4 was more complicated. It proceeded slowly, producing small amounts of both stereoisomers of the bicyclobutane compounds 70 and 70. The major product, however, was a more complex compound containing four phosphorus and four silicon atoms, also obtained as a mixture of two stereoisomers. Two-dimensional 31P NMR spectroscopy established the probable structures to be 71.98... 

White phosphorus has an autoignition temperature only shghtly above ambient, dispersed it will soon heat itself to that by the slow oxidation responsible for its glow. Red is not spontaneously combustible, however if it does catch fire white will be produced, so that the fire, once extinguished, may spontaneously re-ignite. Both can produce phosphine, among other products, by slow reaction with water. Sealed containers of damp phosphorus (white is often stored under water) may pressurise with highly toxic, pyrophoric, gas mixtures [1]. 

White phosphorus begins to reduce the acid at 25-30°C and the vigorous reaction accelerates to explosion. Red phosphorus is similar at a higher initial temperature. 

MRH Barium chlorate 5.06/83, calcium chlorate 5.61/77, potassium chlorate 6.07/76, sodium bromate 4.98/80, sodium chlorate 7.32/75, zinc chlorate 6.11/76 Dry finely divided mixtures of red (or white) phosphorus with chlorates, bromates or iodates of barium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium or zinc will readily explode on initiation by friction, impact or heat. Fires have been caused by accidental contact in the pocket between the red phosphorus in the friction strip on safety-match boxes and potassium chlorate tablets. Addition of a little water to a mixture of white or red phosphorus and potassium iodate causes a violent or explosive reaction. Addition of a little of a solution of phosphorus in carbon disulfide to potassium chlorate causes an explosion when the solvent evaporates. The extreme danger of mixtures of red phosphorus (or sulfur) with chlorates was recognised in the UK some 50 years ago when unlicenced preparation of such mixtures was prohibited by Orders in Council. 

Electric discharge in a mixture of PC13 and H2 produces P2C14, and white phosphorus dissolved in carbon disulfide reacts with I2 to produce P2I4. All of the trihalides of the group VA elements are known, and they can be prepared by reaction of the elements, although there are other preparative methods. The fluorides are prepared as follows ... 

The existence of three equivalent bonds to each of the phosphorus atoms, which must be broken in the formation of mono-phosphorus organophosphorus compounds, might appear to be a problem at first all must be broken as new bonds are being generated to phosphorus. However, the fundamental approaches toward the use of white phosphorus accomplish this necessary action with relatively few extraneous reaction processes. 

Although black phosphorus is generally inert, red phosphorus and particularly white phosphorus are capable of undergoing reactions to generate organophosphorus compounds. Several different sets of conditions may be used to form C-P bonds from elemental phosphorus. These will be discussed in the following sections. 

In situ reaction of the resultant phosphine, converted to its conjugate base, with several types of electrophiles has been investigated for organophosphorus syntheses. While early reports of the use of white phosphorus in basic solution with haloalkanes did not in themselves provide procedures for the efficient preparation of organophosphorus compounds, they pointed the way for the development of more useful techniques. 

Modifying the reaction medium to involve liquid ammonia with metallic lithium, f-butyl alcohol, and white phosphorus, to which is added the haloalkane, is reported to provide the primary alkylphos-phine derived from the haloalkane.19 Similar results are reported for the reaction of red phosphorus with sodium acetylides20 and by treatment of red phosphorus with sodium metal in an organic medium followed by the addition of two equivalents of f-butyl alcohol and the haloalkane.21 The latter approach is noteworthy in that moderate yields (45%) are obtained for primary phosphines derived from secondary haloalkanes (Figure 2.6). Mixtures of tertiary phosphines bearing one or two acetylenic linkages are produced in low yield ( 15%) by the reaction of lithium acetylides with white phosphorus in liquid ammonia followed by addition of a haloalkane.22... 

A Michael-type addition reaction of phosphine generated from red phosphorus in concentrated aqueous KOH solution has been noted to provide moderate isolable yields of pure organophosphorus products.27 For example, tris-(2-cyanoethyl)phosphine is produced in 45% isolable yield from acrylonitrile, and tris-(2-[y-pyridyl]ethyl) phosphine oxide is isolated in 40% yield from 4-vinylpyridine under these conditions. Excellent yields of the tertiary phosphine oxide, tris-(2-cyanoethyl)phosphine oxide, have been reported using white phosphorus in absolute ethanol with KOH at ice/salt-bath temperatures.28 A variety of solvent systems were examined for this reaction involving a Michael-type addition to acrylonitrile. Similarly, tris-(Z-styryl)phosphine is produced from phenylacetylene under these conditions in 55% isolated yield. It is noteworthy that this last cited reaction involves stereospecific syn- addition of the phosphine to the alkyne. 

Walling and coworkers (among others) have investigated the reaction of white phosphorus with alkenes in the presence of molecular oxygen.47 48 The reaction is noted to proceed "quantitatively" to a polymeric species, referred to as a "phosphorate," in which the unit P204 has been added to the alkene (Figure 2.14). Some evidence is... 

White phosphorus (15.5 g, 0.5 g-atom) was cut into approximately 0.1-g pieces under water, washed with acetone followed by ether, and then added in one portion to the reaction mixture. The reaction mixture consisted of 1.0 mol of phenyl lithium in 750 ml of diethyl ether. The exothermic reaction was continued by heating at reflux for 3 h. Water was then added to hydrolyze the remaining organometallic this resulted in the precipitation of a yellow solid. The solid was removed by filtration, and the two phases of the remaining liquid portion were separated. The aqueous portion was extracted with three 50-ml portions of diethyl ether, which were combined with the organic layer, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, and evaporated to give the product phenylphosphine in 40% yield. 

Fridland, N.S. and Ivanov, B.E., White phosphorus and its reactions under conditions of basic catalysis, Russ. J. Gen. Chem., 63, 1850, 1993. 

By far the most important redox reaction relative to chemical stability is the reaction between an oxidizable material and oxygen from air. The particle size and any droplets have a large effect on the combustion properties. Some substances react so rapidly in air that ignition occurs spontaneously. These so called pyrophoric compounds (white phosphorus, alkali metals, metal hydrides, some metal catalysts, and fully alkylated metals and nonmetals) must be stored in the absence of air. 

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