Synthesis of phosphaguanidines by hydrophosphination of carbodiimides with phosphine boranes.

The direct addition of anionic secondary phosphine boranes to carbodiimides yields both chiral and achiral phosphaguanidine boranes under ambient temperature conditions. An analogous preparation of menthol-derived phosphinite boranes is also described. These products can be deborinated to give the corresponding phosphines, and subsequently oxidized to give phosphine oxides. The robustness of this method was further demonstrated in the synthesis of structurally novel cyclic phosphaguanidines.