Modified procedures for preparing some phosphines and other ligands of commercial interest

Phosphines are very useful reagents for the preparation of compounds containing single or multiple element phosphorus bonds. They react readily with various halides, carboxylic acid chlorides, carboxylic esters and other organic electrophiles. Diphosphines have been demonstrated in certain cases to chelate to a single metal atom and to bridge two metal centers and thus form binuclear complexes. There has been growing interest in obtaining reliable routes to a variety of these ligands. The cost of some phosphines is fairly high due to their extreme air and moisture sensitivity and hence the increased difficulty in their preparation. In this project, procedures for the large scale preparation of some of these ligands are introduced. These are based on modifications of the literature procedures. The syntheses of ligands containing either arsenic or selenium as the donor atom are also discussed.Supervisor: Rudy L. Luck.