Some chemistry of organoarsenic and -antimony compounds

The interest in organoarsenic and -antimony compounds is being renewed due to their wide ranging applications which include as precursors for chemical vapor deposition of Group III-V semiconductors, versatile ligands and reagents in organic synthesis. The present paper intends to discuss some salient features of the work carried out in author's laboratory on organoarsenic and -antimony compounds. In this paper reactions of RM(III), R2M(III), R3M(V) (M = As, Sb) species with xanthates and phosphorus based acids are described. Design and development of several tertiary arsines including heterocyclic derivatives as precursors and their reaction chemistry are discussed.