Chiral water-soluble secondary phosphines(
2-6) were obtained by nucleophilicphosphination ofFC
6H
4-4-SO
3K(
1a),FC
6H
3-2,4-(SO
3K)
2(
1b), and FC
6H
4-2-SO
3K(
1c) with RPH
2 (R = Ph,2,4,6-Me
3C
6H
2,2,4,6-iPr
3C
6H
2) inthe superbasic medium DMSO/KOH by employing steric control ofsubstitution at phosphorus by bulky substituentsR and sulfonic groups in the ortho position of the aromatic ringsystems in
1b or
1c. The secondaryphosphinesmay be deprotonated in DMSO/KOH to give phosphido anions which onreaction with alkyl halides (PhCH
2Cl,Br(CH
2)
3Br, andC
12H
25Br) yield mono- or bidentatetertiary phosphines (
7-10).Ligands of this type arealternatively accessible by nucleophilic arylation of secondaryphosphines, e.g. Ph(Me)PH orPh(H)P(CH
2)
3P(H)Ph with
1a or
1b, respectively. Thecrystal structure of the starting material
1b·H
2O (space group
P2
1/
m) hasbeen determined. In the solid state of
1b·H
2O the individual molecules areinterconnected by ionic interactionsbetween the potassium cations and the SO
3-anions. The C-F bond (C(1)-F 1.347(4) Å) is shorter thanthat inC
6H
5F (1.356(4) Å). The unit cell of
7a·0.5H
2O (space group
P),the first structurally characterized chiralphosphine with a sulfonated phenyl substituent, contains the twoenantiomers. Due to the asymmetrical substitutionat phosphorus the PC
3 skeletons are significantly distorted(P(1)-C(1,11,31) 1.864(10), 1.825(8),1.841(7) Å).The electronic structure of sulfonated fluorobenzenesFC
6H
5-n(SO
3M)
n(M = K, NH
4,
n = 1-3) is discussedonthe basis of quantum chemical calculations. In particular, thereactivity difference toward nucleophilic phosphinationwithin the series is rationalized in terms of steric factors and of the-I effect of the sulfonic groups.