Triphenylmethyl hexafluorophosphate
Triphenylmethyl hexafluorophosphate is an organic salt with the formula or, consisting of the triphenylmethyl cation and the hexafluorophosphate anion]. The cation is also called triphenylcarbenium, trityl cation, or tritylium.
Triphenylmethyl hexafluorophosphate is a brown powder that hydrolyzes readily to triphenylmethanol. It is used as a catalyst and reagent in organic syntheses.Preparation
Triphenylmethyl hexafluorophosphate can be prepared by combining silver hexafluorophosphate with triphenylmethyl chloride:
A second method involves protonolysis of generating triphenylmethanol :Triphenylmethyl hexafluorophosphate readily hydrolyzes, in a reaction that is the reverse of one of its syntheses:
Triphenylmethyl hexafluorophosphate has been used for abstracting hydride from organic compounds. Treatment of metal-alkene and diene complexes one can generate allyl and pentadienyl complexes, respectively.
Triphenylmethyl perchlorate is a common substitute for triphenylmethyl hexafluorophosphate. However, the perchlorate is not used as widely, because, like other organic perchlorates, it is potentially explosive.
