More
than 170 years after the synthesis of α-aminonitriles
by the reaction of Strecker, α-phosphinonitriles, and α-arsenonitriles
have been prepared and characterized by NMR and IR spectroscopy. For
the simplest derivatives, the reaction was carried out by reaction
of cyanomethyltributylstannane with phosphorus or arsenic trichloride,
followed by a chemoselective reduction of the dichlorophosphine and
dichloroarsine formed to the corresponding primary phosphine and arsine.
The phosphinoacetonitrile can be stored at −80 °C for
months in its pure state, but arsenoacetonitrile decomposes at this
temperature. Chiral compounds can be synthesized from C-substituted
cyano-1-alkyltributylstannanes. In 1H NMR spectroscopy,
these chiral phosphines and arsines display diastereotopic protons
for the PH2 and AsH2 groups, a property never
observed for the NH2 group of α-aminonitriles. This
work paves the way for further studies on the chemistry of these compounds,
including a comparative chemistry of these phosphorus and arsenic
derivatives with the well-known α-aminonitriles.