Chemical Detection of Hydrogen Fluoride by the Phosphorus Congener of Cyclobutane-1,3-diyl

Heteroaryl-substituted air-tolerant 2,4-bis­(2,4,6-tri-t-butylphenyl)-1,3-diphosphacyclobutane-2,4-diyls in the open-shell singlet state were synthesized by a sterically promoted regioselective SNAr process. Here we demonstrate that these diyls are effective for capturing hydrogen fluoride (HF) generated by intermediary base-coordinated HF and amine-stabilized HF reagents. The hydrofluorination reaction predominantly occurred on the λ3σ3-phosphorus atoms to afford the energetically disfavored 1λ5,3λ5-diphosphete. The positively charged t-butyl-substituted phosphorus atom trapped the fluoride anion, and the subsequent protonation was controlled by the steric effect. X-ray crystallographic analysis and an Atoms in Molecule study of the air-stable 1λ5,3λ5-diphosphete bearing P–H and P–F bonds revealed that the delocalized ylidic linkages in the four-membered ring were almost identical, in contrast to the nonsymmetrically substituted 2,4-bis­(2,4,6-tri-t-butylphenyl)-1,3-diphosphacyclobutane-2,4-diyl. Hydrofluorination efficiently induced a remarkable exchange of visible photoabsorption. The charge-transfer-type transition from highest occupied molecular orbital to lowest unoccupied molecular orbital was highly tuned, which is advantageous for the facile identification of HF. In contrast to hitherto known trapping reagents for HF based on cleavage of the H–F bond, several hydrofluorinated P-heterocycles were reconverted into the 1,3-diphosphacyclobutane-2,4-diyl by treatment with sodium hydride. However, in the hydrofluorination of the benzoyl-substituted 1,3-diphosphacyclobutane-2,4-diyl, fluorination and protonation occurred at the t-butyl-substituted phosphorus atom and the skeletal carbon atom, respectively, and the energetically preferable 1λ5,3λ3-dihydrodiphosphete was isolated as a purple-blue crystalline compound. These findings are promising not only for the practical detection of HF but also for the development of fluorine technology based on the chemistry of phosphorus heterocycles.