Phospha-organic chemistry: from molecules to polymers.

A review. Many parallels were drawn between the chem. of low-valent P and C. This Perspective is intended to highlight some emerging reactivity of phosphaalkenes, that is phospha-analogs of alkenes, in the areas of asym. catalysis and polymer science. Traditionally, phosphaalkene-related research has concd. on their prepn. and mol. chem., which has contributed to the phosphorus/carbon analogy. Recently, the authors and others have extended this relationship to polymer science through the addn. polymn. of phosphaalkenes and the prepn. of π-conjugated phosphorus-contg. macromols. Furthermore, phosphaalkenes are of interest in mol. science as precursors to novel structures and as ligand supports for metal catalysis. These discoveries highlight the rich chem. of phosphaalkenes, not just simply as an alkene mimic, but they represent the framework for the development of applications for these novel mols. [on SciFinder(R)]