Synthesis, structure and application of aryl bismuth compounds

On the basis of analysis of the literature published in the period from the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century, the methods of preparation, some reactions, structure features of organic bismuth compounds, as well as examples of their possible use, have been systematized and described. Over the past ten years, the number of works in the field of bismuth compounds has increased significantly, and their inclusion in this review would substantially enhance the scope of this article. However, some later references have still been included in the review due to their particular importance. In 1950-1952, the Nobel laureate G. Wittig first obtained pentaphenyl compounds of phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth and studied some of their reactions. Since then, few foreign researchers continued Wittig's studies in the field of reactivity of pentaphenyl bismuth since the synthesis experiment was quite complex, and its reproduction for many researchers seemed an impossible task. In 1974, one of the authors of the present article synthesized pentaphenyl bismuth for the first time in Russia and published a series of papers on its reactivity. Another Nobel laureate, D. Barton, drew attention to the published works. He was interested in the fascinating results obtained by Russian chemists. In the last years of his life, D. Barton concentrated his efforts in the direction of using organobismuth compounds in fine organic synthesis. A series of remarkable papers were published, the results of which allowed the chemist to be nominated for the second time for the title of Nobel laureate in chemistry, but this did not happen. Research on the reactivity of pentaphenyl bismuth and its derivatives is currently continued in Russia only at the South Ural State University. The following review covers the description of modern achievements in the field of synthesis methods, the study of the reactivity and structural features of bismuth compounds.