Carbene insertion into a P-H bond: parent phosphinidene-carbene adducts from PH3 and bis(phosphinidene)mercury complexes

PH3 reacts with the in situ generated N-heterocyclic carbene DippNHC* (DippNHC* = 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolin-2-ylidene) to give the phosphanyl-imidazolidine [(Dipp)NHC*-H]-[PH2]. Upon treatment with an ortho-quinone, [(Dipp)NHC*-H]-[PH2] is dehydrogenated to give the parent phosphinidene-carbene adduct (Dipp)NHC*[double bond, length as m-dash]PH. Alternative routes to [(Dipp)NHC*-H]-[PH2] and (Dipp)NHC*[double bond, length as m-dash]PH employ NaPH2 and (TMS)3P7 (TMS = trimethylsilyl), respectively, as phosphorus sources. The adduct (Dipp)NHC*[double bond, length as m-dash]PH and the related adduct (Dipp)NHC[double bond, length as m-dash]PH ((Dipp)NHC = bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene) possessing an unsaturated NHC backbone both react with HgCl2 to give the bis(carbene-phosphinidenyl) complexes [((Dipp)NHC*[double bond, length as m-dash]P)2Hg] and [((Dipp)NHC[double bond, length as m-dash]P)2Hg].