1,8‐Bis[(dimethoxy)phosphino]naphthalene: A New Bis‐phosphonite Ligand with a Rigid C3‐Backbone and Unexpected Reaction Chemistry

1,8‐Bis[(diethylamino)phosphino]naphthalene ( 1 ) reacted with dry methanol in dichloromethane to form the new bis‐phosphonite ligand 1,8‐bis[(dimethoxy)phosphino]naphthalene (dmeopn, 2 ). By oxidation of 2 with H₂O₂ · (H₂N)₂C(:O) the corresponding bis‐phosphonate, 1,8‐bis[(dimethoxy)phosphoryl]naphthalene ( 3 ), was obtained quantitatively. Reaction of 3 with phosphorus trichloride unexpectedly furnished a 2.4 : 1 mixture of the bis‐phosphonate anhydrides rac‐ and meso‐1,3‐dimethoxy‐1,3‐dioxo‐2,3‐dihydro‐1,3‐diphospha‐2‐oxaphenalene (rac‐ 4 and meso‐ 4 ) from which rac‐ 4 could be fractionally crystallised. The bis‐phosphonite 2 behaved as a normal bidentate chelate ligand towards Mo⁰ and Pd^II, and furnished the complexes [(dmeopn)Mo(CO)₄] ( 5 ) and [(dmeopn)PdCl₂] ( 6 ) when treated with [(nor)Mo(CO)₄] or [(cod)PdCl₂] (nor = norbornadiene, cod = cycloocta‐1,8‐diene). Attempts to prepare 1,8‐diphosphinonaphthalene ( 7 ) by reducing 2 or 3 with LiAlH₄ or LiAlH₄/TMSCl (1 : 1) (TMSCl = trimethyl chlorosilane) in THF led to inseparable mixtures of phosphorus‐containing products. Compounds 2 – 6 were characterised by ¹H‐, ¹³C‐, and ³¹P‐NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. X‐ray crystal structure analyses were carried out for the bis‐phosphonate anhydride rac‐ 4 and the palladium(II) complex 6 . The geometry of compound rac‐ 4 , in which the phosphorus atoms are connected by an oxygen atom, reveals a relief of strain from the bis‐phosphine 1 , whereas the 1,8‐P,P′‐naphthalenediyl group in 6 is surprisingly distorted; the P atoms are displaced from the naphthalene best plane by –46.7 and 54.5 pm.