White phosphorus (P 4 ) is a small molecule that is mainly used as a starting material for the large-scale synthesis of most of the suitable phosphorus derivatives. The process starts with the direct reaction of P 4 with Cl 2 , and the resulting phosphorus chloride is further treated with the adequate organic substrate. This industrial process is very primitive, and for economic and environmental reasons the first oxidation step should be avoided. The observation that the conversion of white P 4 to the red allotrope is accelerated by ultraviolet light showed that the P 4 molecule is able to be activated by elec-[a] Área www.eurjic.org MICROREVIEW (Scheme 2, path b), which is actually widely studied, [4][5][6] but the straightforward addition of a nucleophile to the P 4 framework has also been investigated. [4c,4d,7] Scheme 2. (a) Method used to functionalize white phosphorus. (b) Functionalization of P 4 mediated by its coordination to a transition metal.Very meaningful reviews have classified and discussed the most significant reactivity of P 4 and the resulting products. [4,5a-5f] Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, until now there has been no review that summarizes the connection found between P 4 and electromagnetic radiation. With the purpose of filling this gap, herein we present the most significant known processes that involve electromagnetic radiation and the P 4 molecule.
Photochemical Properties of White Phosphorus: White Phosphorus GlowThe phosphorus glow was first observed when phosphorus was discovered. Nevertheless, until the middle of the Manuel Serrano-Ruiz completed his B.Sc. degree at the San Marcos University (Peru) and he received his Ph.D. at the University of Almería (July 2010) under the supervision of Prof. A
. Romerosa. His research interest is characterized by its multidisciplinary nature, including synthetic homogeneous catalysis in water, structural and characterization studies, and by a large network of collaborations. He is Collaborator Professor at the Departament of Chemistry and Physics of the University of Almeria in the department of Inorganic Chemistry (2011), coauthor of more than twenty scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and he has been supervisor of a Ph.D. student with "Doctor Europeans Mention" (December 2012) on the synthesis and study of catalytic and photochemical properties of new water-soluble ruthenium complexes. Almeria. His research interests cover homogeneous catalysis in water and organometallics, phosphorus, photo-and bioinorganic chemistry. He has authored 110 international refereed papers, made more than 180 presentations at national and international meetings and supervised more than 14 Ph.D. students. The theses of most of them received "Doctor Europeans Mention". Pablo Lorenzo-Luis completed his B.Sc. Degree at the La Laguna University (ULL) and he received his Ph.D. from the same University (July 1998) under the supervision of Full Professor P. Gili. Soon after, he moved to ISSECC-CNR-Florence, Italy, with Dr. S. Midollini where he wo...