Synthesis and Characterization of Selenophosphatocavitands

Treatment of a series of substituted resorcin[4]arenes in pyridine with dichlorophenyl-phosphine followed by addition of selenium powder resulted in the formation of the corresponding selenophosphatocavitands [R2CHC6HR1O2PSePh](4) (R-1 = H, R-2 = CH2CH2Ph, 1; R-1 = CH3, R-2 = CH3, 2; R-1 = CH3, R-2 = C2H5, 3) in moderate yields. All compounds were spectroscopically characterized, of which the structure of 3 center dot CHCl3 has been established by X-ray crystallography. The molecular structure of 3 shows that the selenophosphato-cavitand adopts C (4v) bowl-shaped conformation with four P=Se bonds oriented toward the molecular cavity.