Spontaneous Reduction of a Hydroborane To Generate a B-B Single Bond by the Use of a Lewis Pair

Étienne Rochette; Nicolas Bouchard; Julien Légaré Lavergne; Chérif F Matta; Frédéric-Georges Fontaine

doi:10.1002/anie.201605645

Spontaneous Reduction of a Hydroborane To Generate a B-B Single Bond by the Use of a Lewis Pair

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2016 Oct 4;55(41):12722-6. doi: 10.1002/anie.201605645. Epub 2016 Sep 14.

Authors

Étienne Rochette¹, Nicolas Bouchard¹, Julien Légaré Lavergne¹, Chérif F Matta², Frédéric-Georges Fontaine³

Affiliations

¹ Département de Chimie, Centre de Catalyse et Chimie Verte (C3V), Université Laval, 1045 Avenue de la Médecine, Québec, Québec, G1V 0A6, Canada.
² Department of Chemistry and Physics, Mount Saint Vincent University, 166 Bedford Highway, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3M 2J6, Canada.
³ Département de Chimie, Centre de Catalyse et Chimie Verte (C3V), Université Laval, 1045 Avenue de la Médecine, Québec, Québec, G1V 0A6, Canada. frederic.fontaine@chm.ulaval.ca.

PMID: 27625187
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201605645

Abstract

The ansa-aminohydroborane 1-NMe2 -2-(BH2 )C6 H4 crystallizes in an unprecedented type of dimer containing a B-H bond activated by one FLP moiety. Upon mild heating and without the use of any catalyst, this molecule liberates one equivalent of hydrogen to generate a diborane molecule. The synthesis and structural characterization of these new compounds, as well as the kinetic monitoring of the reaction and the DFT investigation of its mechanism, are reported.

Keywords: boranes; diboranes; frustrated Lewis pairs; reduction; small-molecule activation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't