Cation Stabilities, Electrophilicities, and “Carbene Analogue” Character of Low Coordinate Phosphorus Cations

The stabilities of low coordinated phosphorus cations can be expressed in the frame of the HSAB concept by the transferred charge density Δq(N) which a cation receives upon formation of a donor-acceptor adduct with a Lewis base N. This concept allows to differentiate between relative stabilities towards different reaction partners, and to compare the electrophilicities of phosphenium ions to those of isoelectronic carbenes and silylenes. An analysis of substituent influences on Δq(H) in cations P(R)2+suggests an increasing stabilizing power of substituents in the series R = Cl < CH3 < OH, SH < NH2. The same ordering was derived from isodesmic hydride transfer reactions. Interpretation of population analyses suggests that the individual substituent contributions to cation stabilities result from a balance between π-donation into the empty p(P) orbital and electrostatic stabilization by polar P–R σ-bonds. A further stabilizing effect, which is of similar magnitude as in isoelectronic carbenes or silylenes, may arise from cyclic π-conjugation between a diaminophosphenium fragment and an adjacent double bond. Substituent effects influence further the nature of the frontier orbitals of phosphenium ions, resulting in orbital sequences which resemble those of carbenes, allyl anions, or phospholides, respectively. The absence of frontier orbital related changes in reactivity patterns suggests that in all reactions, including metal complex formation, phosphenium ions behave as purely electrophilic rather than ambiphilic species.