The electrophilic nature2 of halocarbenes is believed to be due to their electronic structure where carbon is in the singlet ground state, in which an electron pair fills a carbon sp2 orbital not used in bonding, leaving the pz orbital vacant. If this description of carbenes is accepted, then triphenylphosphinemethylenes,(C~ HF,) 3P-CX2-(CaHa) aP= CX2, can be regarded as donor-acceptor complexes formed between the nucleophile ...