Reaction of aluminum trichloride or gallium trichloride with the extremely weak base hexachlorotriphosphazene gives adducts in which the group 13 element is bound to a phosphazene nitrogen atom. In solution, the adducts exhibit fluxional behavior. The phosphazene ring of the adducts is distorted into a slight chair conformation.

Phosphazene polymers are classically synthesized by the high-temperature, ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of [PCl(2)N](3) to give [PCl(2)N](n), followed by functionalization of [PCl(2)N](n) with different side groups. We investigated the interactions of [PCl(2)N](3) with Lewis acids because Lewis acids have been used to induce the high-temperature ROP of [PCl(2)N](3). The reactions of [PCl(2)N](3) with MX(3) (M = group 13, X = halides), under strict anaerobic conditions gave adducts [PCl(2)N](3)·MX(3). Adducts were characterized by X-ray crystallography and multinuclear and variable-temperature NMR studies, and mechanistic understanding of their fluxional behavior in solution was achieved. The properties of the [PCl(2)N](3)·MX(3) adducts at or near room temperature strongly suggests that such adducts are not involved directly as intermediates in the high-temperature ROP of [PCl(2)N](3).

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Irrespective of the order of the addition of reagents, the reactions of [PCl2N]3 with MX3 (MX3 = AlCl3, AlBr3, GaCl3) in the presence of water or gaseous HX give the air- and light-sensitive superacid adducts [PCl2N]3·HMX4. The reactions are quantitative when HX is used. These reactions illustrate a Lewis acid/Brønsted acid dichotomy in which Lewis acid chemistry can become Brønsted acid chemistry in the presence of adventitious water or HX. The crystal structures of all three [PCl2N]3·HMX4 adducts show that protonation weakens the two P-N bonds that flank the protonated nitrogen atom. Variable-temperature NMR studies indicate that exchange in solution occurs in [PCl2N]3·HMX4, even at lower temperatures than those for [PCl2N]3·MX3. The fragility of [PCl2N]3·HMX4 at or near room temperature and in the presence of light suggests that such adducts are not involved directly as intermediates in the high-temperature ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of [PCl2N]3 to give [PCl2N]n. Attempts to catalyze or initiate the ROP of [PCl2N]3 with the addition of [PCl2N]3·HMX4 at room temperature or at 70 °C were not successful.