This paper describes the application of topological electron density analysis to inversion processes in tricoordinate phosphorus systems. The calculations are at the Hartree-Fock self-consistent-field level using the 6-311G ∗∗ basis sets. Of particular interest are the approximate T-shaped transition states reported by Dixon and co-workers (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 108 (1986) 2461, 6821). The role that the lone pair of electrons on phosphorus plays in determining the geometry of the transition state is analyzed through the laplacian of the electron density. It is shown that the species that will invert through the T-shaped process have distances, from P to the maximum in the non-bonded charge concentration, ranging from 1.408 a.u. to 1.417 a.u., whereas those species that invert through the classical process have distances ranging from 1.432 a.u. to 1.452 a.u.
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