Synthesis and Structure of a Biconcave Cobalt Perfluorophthalocyanine and Its Catalysis of Novel Oxidative Carbon–Phosphorus Bonds Formation by Using Air We thank Brown University and the Salomon Foundation for partial support of this work and Dr. Tun-Li Shen for the mass spectrometry data.

Abstract

An enzyme-inspired phthalocyanine (Pc) complex [F64PcCo(acetone)2] is the first representative of a novel class of robust homogeneous catalysts. This complex couples aryl and alkyl phosphanes with acetone to catalytically produce ylides (the structure shows the ylide coordinated to the F64PcCo unit: F green, N blue, O red, C gray, P yellow) and water under ambient conditions using only air, a route that avoids the classical use of halogenated intermediates.