Nitrated triarylphosphine oxides: accessible triarylphosphoryl molecules with up to six nitro groups.

Few nitroaryl-substituted phosphoryl compounds have ever been reported. They are appealing as precursors towards "electron-poor" phosphorus(III) and (V) compounds. In this contribution, we show that these compounds can be prepared using standard nitrating procedures on commercially available substrates. Indeed, we report several examples of fully characterized, unprecedented tris(dinitro)arylphosphine oxides.