A small library of triazolylidene-boranes that differ only in the nature of the aryl group on the external nitrogen atom was prepared. Their reactivity as hydrogen-atom donors, as well as that of the corresponding N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-boryl radicals toward methyl acrylate and oxygen, was investigated by laser flash photolysis, molecular orbital calculations, and ESR spin-trapping experiments, and benchmarked relative to the already known dimethyltriazolylidene-borane. The new NHC-boranes were also used as co-initiators for the Type I photopolymerization of acrylates. This allowed a structure-reactivity relationship with regard to the substitution pattern of the NHC to be established and the role of electronic effects in the reactivity of NHC-boryl radicals to be probed. Although their rate of addition to methyl acrylate depends on their electronegativity, the radicals are all nucleophilic and good initiators for photopolymerization reactions.
Keywords: boranes; carbenes; polymerization; radical reactions; radicals.
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