A new class of half-sandwich Ir and Ru compounds containing P^P-chelating ligands can be developed as potential multifunctional theranostic platforms that combine bioimaging and anticancer capabilities.
A series of electrophilic bis-fluorophosphonium dications dervied from diphosphines with naphthalene- and (oligo)methylene-linkers is presented. The resulting Lewis acidity is demonstrated to depend on the spatial proximity between the P moieties as evidenced in several Lewis acid catalyzed transformations.