“…[10][11][12][13][14][15] Moreover, Lawesson's and Japanese reagents have been shown to be good starting materials for the construction of cyclic systems containing phosphorus and sulphur. [16][17][18][19][20][21] Herein, we report on the synthesis, structural and antitumor activity of pyridinephosphanylidenecyclobutane, oxaphosphetane, butenoate, pyridazinone and oxathiaphosphetane, from the reaction of the above mentioned phosphorus reagents with 1,2-bis(2-pyridyl)ethane-1,2-dione. Similarly, when the 1,2-bis(2-pyridyl)ethane-1,2-dione (1) was treated with (2-oxovinylidene)triphenylphosphorane (2b), only 2-(pyridine-2-carbonyl)-2-(2-pyridyl)-4-(triphenyl-λ 5 -phosphanylidene)cyclobutane-1,3-dione (5b) and triphenylphosphane oxide were obtained and no dimeric product analogous to 6 was detected (Scheme 1).…”