Room-temperature reactions of asymmetric phosphines, (Ph)(DCA)(R)P (R = Et
2N--, Bu
n2N--) with S
4N
4 in acetonitrile afforded phosphiniminocyclotrithiazenes, (Ph)(DCA)(R)P
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N--S
3N
3 (R = Et
2N--,
I ; Bu
n2N--,
II) in modest yields (
ca 50 % ). The heterocycles have been characterized by spectroscopic [IR, UV- vis, NMR (
1H and
31P) and mass] and single crystal X-ray diffraction methods. Strikingly, the angle at P--N(4)--S(1) is 135° in
I, the largest observed so far and is 119.3° in
II. This is also accompanied by the shortest exocyclic S(1)--N(4) bond length of 1.537 Å observed in the case of
I. In the unit cell of
II, two types of molecules with slightly differing degree of deviation of the tricoordinate sulfur (0.664 and 0.673 Å from the mean plane [N(1)--S(2)--N(2)--S(3)--N(3)] are observed.