Bis(carbodicarbene)phosphenium trication: the case against hypervalency

Chem Commun (Camb). 2016 Jul 28;52(63):9789-92. doi: 10.1039/c6cc04161b.

Abstract

The first example of a phosphenium trication has been prepared by using the exceptional nucleophilic properties of a carbodicarbene ligand. According to theoretical investigations the trication contains quite polarized P-C bonds suggesting a substantial contribution from the dative bond model. As one of the resonance forms for the title compound depicted a hypervalent phosphoranide we also showed that phosphoranides, in general, do not contain a hypervalent P centre.