Triphenylphosphine oxide is a polar, often amorphous solid ... formation of pentavalent organophosphorus species he found that phosphonium salts with alkyl substituents were deprotonated to ...

A solution of NaOH (14 ml of 30 % w/w) was added to the phosphonium salt and the mixture was refluxed for 45 min. The mixture was cooled and extracted with CH2Cl2 (2 ×30 ml). The combined organics ...