Persistent phosphinyl radicals from a bulky diphosphine: an example of a molecular jack-in-the-box

Abstract

The structure of the phosphinyl radical, ṖR2 [R = CH(SiMe3)2], has been determined by gas-phase electron diffraction (GED) together with ab initio molecular orbital calculations, and that of the corresponding diphosphine, (PR2)2, has been established by X-ray crystallography; the diphosphine behaves as an energy storage reservoir.