White phosphorus is used in flares and incendiary devices (Method Of Making An Incendiary Formulation Containing White Phosphorus (1970)).
Red phosphorus is used in safety matches (Match Head Formulations (1992)).
By far the largest use of phosphorus compounds is for fertilisers (Process For The Production Of A Nitrogen, Phosphorus And Potassium Containing Fertiliser In Granulated Form (1965)).
Ammonium phosphate is made from phosphate ores (Ammonium-Phosphate Fertilizer (1911)). The ores are first converted into phosphoric acids before being made into ammonium phosphate.In trace amounts, phosphorus is used as a dopant for n-type semiconductors (Phosphorus-Doped Silicon Semiconductors (1966)).
32P and 33P are used as radioactive tracers in biochemical laboratories (Phosphonates Contg. A P-32 Or P-33 Radionuclide – Prepd. By Reaction Of Labelled Phosphorus Trichloride And Acid (1974)).
Tributyl phosphate is an organophosphate soluble in kerosene used to extract uranium in the Purex process for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel:
- Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Method By Low Temperature And High Load Purex Method (1991)), and
- Multistage Process for Extracting U and Pu with Solvent Comprising Tributylphosphate (1971).
An example of organo-phosphorus chemistry is phosphole which is a five-membered heterocycle containing 4 carbon atoms and one phosphorus atom: Preparation of phospholes and of phospholes with functional substituents on phosphorus (1981).
References:
All patent information has been obtained from Espacenet (European Patent Office).