Depending on the ratio of reactants, reaction of (PPh), (1) with grey selenium gives (PhPSe2I2 (21, (PhP)3Se2 (3), (PhP)4Se (4), and (PhP),Se, (5). The compounds have been characterized by multielement N M R , mass spectrometry, microanalyses, and, in the case of 4, Xray crystallography. 4 consists of a puckered 5-membered ring with all four phenyl substituents axial; the average P-P and P-Se bond lengths are 2.194 and 2.271 A respectively.