Synthesis of novel paracyclophanes with linear P,N-containing spacers

Condensation of bis(hydroxymethyl)mesityl-and bis(hydroxymethyl)phenylphosphines with N,N′-disubstituted bis(4-aminophenyl)methanes and bis(4-amino-3-carboxyphenyl)methane occurred as covalent self-assembly spontaneously giving a mixture of trans-and cis-diastereomers of 1,5,19,23-tetra-R′-3,21-di-R-1,5,19,23-tetraaza-3,21-diphospha5.1.5.1]paracyclophanes as the major products. The trans-isomer (R is mesityl; R′ is methyl) was isolated in the individual state and structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis. Sulfurization of macrocyclic diphosphines (R = Ph; R′ is 3-pyridylmethyl or 4-pyridylmethyl) gave the corresponding diphosphine disulfides, the trans-stereoisomer being isolated in the individual state. Dedicated to Academician G. A. Abakumov on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 9, pp. 1765–1774, September, 2007.