Efficient Synthesis of 2,4-Bis(phenyl)-1,3-diselenadiphosphetane-2,4-diselenide (Woollins' Reagent)

Guoxiong Hua; J Derek Woollins

doi:10.1021/acsomega.1c04753

Efficient Synthesis of 2,4-Bis(phenyl)-1,3-diselenadiphosphetane-2,4-diselenide (Woollins' Reagent)

ACS Omega. 2021 Nov 11;6(46):31226-31228. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c04753. eCollection 2021 Nov 23.

Authors

Guoxiong Hua¹, J Derek Woollins^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9ST, U.K.
² Department of Chemistry, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi 127788, United Arab Emirates.

Abstract

An improved approach for the preparation of 2,4-bis(phenyl)-1,3-diselena-2,4-diphosphetane-2,4-diselenide (Woollins' reagent) is described. Reacting dichlorophenylphosphine with Na₂Se which was in situ prepared from the reaction of elemental selenium and metal sodium in the presence of naphthalene in refluxing tetrahydrofuran generated Woollins' reagent with excellent purity and a yield of up to 96.4%.