An efficient photochemical route towards triplet ethynylphosphinidene, HCCP

While the archetypal free phosphinidene, H-P, has been studied for over a century, reports on uncomplexed, univalent phosphorus compounds are very sparse. Here we demonstrate production of HCCP in solid argon through the UV-induced rearrangement and subsequent dehydrogenation of phosphapropyne, CH 3 CP. Migration of H atoms along the CCP backbone of CH 3 CP resulted in production of the previously unobserved species 1-phosphapropadiene, CH 2 =C=PH, followed by ethynylphosphine, HCCPH 2 .