A pendant phosphorus Lewis acid: route to a palladium-benzoyl derived phosphoraneElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Spectroscopy details. CCDC 1510340-1510342 (4, 3 and 5). For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c6cc08561j

The traditional use of phosphorus compounds is as ligands for transition metals, however herein we synthesize Lewis acidic fluorophosphonium cation appended to a palladium complex and effect CO insertion into a Pd-C bond to obtain an unprecedented metal-benzoyl derived phosphorane. The traditional use of phosphorus compounds is as ligands for transition metals, however herein we synthesize Lewis acidic fluorophosphonium cation appended to a palladium complex and effect CO insertion into a Pd-C bond to obtain an unprecedented metal-benzoyl derived phosphorane.