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Phosphorus chemistry in ionic liquids

January 9, 2006 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 84, Issue 2

Ionic liquids offer potential as storage solvents for moisture-sensitive phosphorus compounds and reaction media for phosphorus chemistry, according to chemists at Queens University Belfast, in Northern Ireland (Chem. Commun. 2006, 72). Christopher Hardacre, Marie Migaud, and coworkers have shown that imidazolium and pyrrolidinium ionic liquids can be used to store phosphorus trichloride and phosphorus oxychloride, two compounds that are widely used in organic synthesis and as precursors for the manufacture of flame-retardant materials, pesticides, and other products. Reactions involving PCl3 and POCl3 normally require strictly anhydrous conditions, as the compounds readily hydrolyze. The Belfast researchers find that the two compounds exhibit unexpectedly high stability in ionic liquids, even when water is present. They suggest that water in the ionic liquids is deactivated by hydrogen bonding and therefore doesn't react with the phosphorus compounds. The work opens up opportunities to investigate novel chemical functionalities, reactivities, and physical properties of reactive water-sensitive chemicals once thought to be too unstable to be studied easily, Migaud says.

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