Temperature initiated P-polymerization in solid [Cd3Cu]CuP10.

[Cd3Cu]CuP10, a polyphosphide containing adamantine-analogue [P10] unit undergoes a solid-state polymerization to form [P6] rings and tubular [P26] polymer units at elevated temperatures. This reaction represents the rare case of a polyphosphide polymerization in the solid state. The formation of such a polymeric unit starting from a molecular precursor is the first evidence of the general possibility to perform a bottom-up route to the well-known tubular polyphosphide units of elemental phosphorus in a solid material. Temperature-dependent X-ray powder diffraction experiments substantiate the solid phase transformation of [Cd3Cu]CuP10 starting at 550 °C to the polymerized form via an additional intermediate step. A single crystal structure determination of the quenched product at room temperature was performed to evaluate the structural properties and the resulting polyphosphide units. The full polymerization and decomposition mechanism has been analyzed by thermogravimetric experiments and subsequent X-ray powder phase analyses. The present [P26] polymer unit represents a former unseen one-dimensional cut-out of the two-dimensional polyphosphide substructure of Ag3P11 and can be directly related to the tubular polyphosphide substructures of violet or fibrous phosphorus.