text: Phosphine (IUPAC name: phosphane) is a colorless, flammable, highly toxic compound with the chemical formula PH, classed as a pnictogen hydride. Pure phosphine is odorless, but technical grade samples have a highly unpleasant odor like rotting fish, due to the presence of substituted phosphine and diphosphane (). With traces of  present,  is spontaneously flammable in air (pyrophoric), burning with a luminous flame. Phosphine is a highly toxic respiratory poison, and is immediately dangerous to life or health at 50 ppm. Phosphine has a trigonal pyramidal structure.
  Phosphines are compounds that include  and the organophosphines, which are derived from  by substituting one or more hydrogen atoms with organic groups. They have the general formula . Phosphanes are saturated phosphorus hydrides of the form , such as triphosphane. Phosphine, PH, is the smallest of the phosphines and the smallest of the phosphanes.