POSSphites-monophosphites derived from incompletely condensed silsesquioxanes

A straightforward three-step synthetic route is followed to obtain nanostructured silsesquioxane based monophosphite compds. namely POSSphites. These compds., derived from (c-C5H9)7Si7O9(OH)3 and com. available phenol derivs., differ mainly in the steric bulk around the phosphorus atom. Preliminary results in the rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation of 1-octene exemplify the use of these ligands for homogeneous catalysis. High activities, with a turnover frequency of up to 5000 h-1 were obtained. These ligands are the first silsesquioxane derived monophosphite ligands to be successfully applied in homogeneous catalysis. [on SciFinder (R)