Paramagnetic titanium(III) and zirconium(III) metallocene complexes as precatalysts for the dehydrocoupling/dehydrogenation of amine-boranes

Abstract

Complexes of Group 4 metallocenes in the +3 oxidation state and amidoborane or phosphidoborane function as efficient precatalysts for the dehydrocoupling/dehydrogenation of amine-boranes, such as Me(2) NH⋅BH(3). Such Ti(III) -amidoborane complexes are generated in [Cp(2)Ti]-catalyzed amine-borane dehydrocoupling reactions, for which diamagnetic M(II) and M(IV) species have been previously postulated as precatalysts and intermediates.