Phosphorus-Based Pincer Ligands

Abstract

The synthesis, reactivity, and catalytic applications of pincer complexes is a rapidly growing area of coordination chemistry. Of the known pincer ligands, a significant fraction involves phosphorus as the flanking donor, central donor, or backbone atom. Summarized here are nearly a thousand different phosphorus-containing pincer ligands, which are categorized by the pincer donor arrays. The majority of the text is dedicated to different methods used to synthesize the pincer ligands and the corresponding pincer complexes, particularly those that require CH or CC bond activation.