New heteroorganic betaines containing the (+)E15—C—E14—X(–) and (+)E15—C—E14(–) structural fragments (E15 = P,As; E14 = Si,Ge, Sn; X = C,S, O,NR)

The review surveys the data on the reactions of phosphorus and arsenic ylides with compounds containing E=X bonds (E = C, Si, Ge, or Sn; X = C or S), cyclic oligomers (R₂ES)_n (n = 2 or 3), and heavier analogs of carbenes. These reactions give rise to two new classes of heteroorganic betaines containing the ⁽⁺⁾E¹⁵—C—E¹⁴—X^(–) (I) and ⁽⁺⁾E¹⁵—C—E^14(–) (II) (E¹⁵ = P or As; E¹⁴ = Si, Ge, or Sn; X = C or S) structural fragments. Procedures for the synthesis of these compounds, their reactivities, the X-ray diffraction structures, and the electronic structures established by high-level quantum-chemical calculations are considered in detail. The carbon analogs of betaines of type I, viz., compounds bearing the ⁽⁺⁾P—C—C—X^(–) fragment (III), are also discussed. The latter were long considered as possible intermediates in the reactions of compounds containing the polar C=X bond (X = C, O, S, NR, etc.) with phosphorus ylides (classical Wittig and Corey—Chaykovsky reactions and related processes).