Hydrazine dihydrochloride reacts with 3 equiv of Ph
2PCl in tetrahydrofuran in the presence of triethylamine to give tris(diphenylphosphino)hydrazine (
1) in 70% yield. Each nitrogen atom in
1 has a trigonal-planar environment according to X-ray analysis. Thermolysis of
1 at 130 °C results in the formation of two products: bis(diphenylphosphino)amine and octaphenylcyclotetraphosphazene. The interaction of free ligand
1 with NiBr
2 affords a simple adduct [(Ph
2P)
2N−NH−PPh
2]NiBr
2, while its anionic (hydrazide) form undergoes rearrangement in a coordination sphere of divalent cobalt and nickel involving migratory insertion of the Ph
2P group into a nitrogen−nitrogen bond. The reaction of
1 with cobalt bis(trimethylsilyl)amide, [(Me
3Si)
2N]
2Co, yields the complex of phosphazenide-type (Me
3Si)
2N−Co[(Ph
2PN)
2PPh
2] (
2) in 86% yield. A similar reaction of
1 with nikelocene proceeds with substitution of one Cp ring to form durable 18-electron complex CpNi[(Ph
2PN)
2PPh
2] (
3).