Under normal circumstances, when covalent molecules form, electrons are exchanged between atoms to form bonds. However, experiment and theoretical computations reveal exactly the opposite effect for the formation of group V elements nitrogen and phosphorous encapsulated within a buckminsterfullerene molecule. The C-60 carbon cage remains intact upon encapsulation of the atom, whereas the electronic charge cloud of the N or P atom contracts. We have studied the chemical, spin, and thermodynamic properties of endohedral phosphorous (P@C-60) and have compared our results with earlier findings for N@C-60. From a combined experimental and theoretical vantage, we are able to elucidate a model for the interaction between the trapped group V atom and the fullerene cage. A picture emerges for the electronic structure of these complexes, whereby an atom is trapped within a fullerene, and interacts weakly with the molecular orbitals of the C-60 cage.