Nitroso compounds, R–N=O, are common intermediates in organic synthesis, and are typically amenable to storage and manipulation at ambient temperature under aerobic conditions. By contrast, phosphorus-containing analogues, such as R–P=O (R = OH, CH₃, OCH₃, Ph), are extremely reactive and need to be studied in inert gas matrices at ultralow temperatures (3–15 K). These species are believed to be key intermediates in the degradation/combustion of organic phosphorus compounds, a class of chemicals that includes chemical warfare agents and flame retardants. Here we describe the isolation of a two-coordinate phosphorus(III) oxide under ambient conditions, enabled by the use of an extremely bulky amine ligand. Reactivity studies reveal that the phosphorus centre can be readily oxidized, and that in doing so, the P–O bond remains intact, an observation that is of interest to the proposed reactivity of transient phosphorus(III) oxides.

亚硝基化合物，R–N=O，是有机合成中常见的中间体，通常适合在环境温度、有氧条件下储存和操作。相比之下，含磷类似物，例如 R–P=O (R = OH, CH ₃ , OCH ₃ , Ph)，具有极高的反应活性，需要在超低温 (3–15 K) 的惰性气体基质中进行研究。这些物质被认为是有机磷化合物降解/燃烧的关键中间体，有机磷化合物是一类包括化学战剂和阻燃剂的化学品。在这里，我们描述了在环境条件下通过使用极其庞大的胺配体来分离二配位磷（III）氧化物。反应性研究表明，磷中心很容易被氧化，并且在此过程中，P-O 键保持完整，这一观察结果对于拟议的瞬态磷（III）氧化物的反应性很有意义。