Chloro-,
bromo-, iodo-, and trifluoromethylsulfonyloxy-(2,4,6-tri-
tert-
butylphenylimino)phosphines (Mes*NPX; X =Cl, Br, I, OTf) react quantitatively with 1,3-diisopropyl-4,5-dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene (Im) to give Lewis acid-
basecomplexes with the general formula Mes*NP(Im)X. The dichlorophosphetidine (DippNPCl)
2 (Dipp = 2,6-diisopropylphenyl) represents a formal cyclodimer of an iminophosphine and reacts with Im to give a similar complex.The process represents a ligand induced dissociation of the phosphetidine framework and is reversed
by theintroduction of an appropriate Lewis acid. Solid state structures of RNP(Im)X complexes show that the closestcontact
between acid and
base occurs
between phosphorus and car
bon in all cases, highlighting them as compoundsthat contain examples of C
![](/images/entities/rarr.gif)
P coordinate
bonds. Association of Im with phosphorus also effects a su
bstantialincrease in the P-X distance,
but all derivatives maintain a short NP
bond, indicating the presence of NP
![](/images/gifchars/pi.gif)
-
bonding.