The CuCl-catalyzed reaction of trimethylsilyl(t-butyl)chlorophosphane with dimethylzirconocene: An example for tandem catalysis

t-BuP(SiMe(3))Cl was prepared from t-BuP(SiMe(3))(2) and hexachloroethane and reacted in situ with Cp(2)ZrMe(2) in the presence of catalytic amounts of copper(I) chloride yielding t-Bu(Me)P-P(Cl)t-Bu (1) (2:1 reaction) or t-Bu(Me)P-P .(Me)t-Bu (2) (1:1 reaction) and Cp(2)ZrCl(Me). To understand the course of reaction, the reaction of dimethylzirconocene with CuCl and the decomposition of t-BuP(SiMe(3))Cl in the presence of CuCl and tetrachloroethene were studied. The results suggest that CuCl reacts with t-BuP(SiMe(3))Cl in the presence of C2Cl4 to give t-Bu(Cl)P-P(Cl)t-Bu (3); simultaneously, CuCl reacts with Cp(2)ZrMe(2) with formation of methylcopper, which reacts with 3 to give 1 or 2, respectively.