Phosphazenes 2014
Phosphazene chemistry continues to expand in its breadth and application. This article discusses new research published in 2013 covering mono- and dimeric structures, cyclotriphosphazenes, linear polymers, and the use of phosphazenic structures as ligands on metal centres. Papers report new reactions and structures as well as materials designed for specific applications, such as biomedical, energy storage, flame retardant, and optical, among others. The critical similarity is the phosphazene P-N structure that gives this area of study wide variation. Mirroring the diversity in chemistry are the tools used to probe structure and behaviour. These techniques include Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometry, various optical methods, electrochemistry, membrane transport experiments, etc. Furthermore, computational methods, such as Density Functional Theory (DFT), have been used to provide additional insight. This article is organized by structure, beginning with monomeric, dimeric, and non-cyclic phosphazenes first, followed by the cyclic and linear morphologies, with reported potential applications.