Electrophilic attack on unsubstituted phosphorus units in transition metal compounds: synthesis and characterization of the methyltriphosphirene unit stabilized by transition metal–ligand fragments

The reaction of trimethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate or methyl trifluoromethanesulphonate with the [(triphos)M(P3)] complexes [triphos = 1,1,1-tris(diphenylphosphinomethyl)ethane; M = Co, Rh, or lr] in which the triphosphirene ring is η3-bonded to the metal, yields the compounds [(triphos)M(MeP3)]Y (Y = BF4, CF3SO3) which contain the novel methyltriphosphirene unit η3-linked to the M(triphos) moiety.