Preparation of Stable Low-Oxidation-State Group 14 Element Amidohydrides and Hydride-Mediated Ring-Expansion Chemistry of N-Heterocyclic Carbenes

Carbene-9-BBN ring expansions as a route to intramolecular frustrated Lewis pairs for CO2 reduction

Reactions of phosphine-derived carbenes with 9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane (9-BBN) result in ring-expansion reactions to generate novel intramolecular frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs). These FLPs effect the catalytic reduction of CO2 in the presence of boranes to give BOB and methoxy-borate species.

Polyaminoborane main chain scission using N-heterocyclic carbenes; formation of donor-stabilised monomeric aminoboranes

The reaction of N-heterocyclic carbenes with polyaminoboranes [MeNH-BH2]n or [NH2-BH2]n at 20 °C led to depolymerisation and the formation of labile, monomeric aminoborane-NHC adducts, RNH-BH2-NHC (R = Me or H); a similar NHC adduct of Ph2N=BCl2 was characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction.

Zinc-catalyzed borylation of primary, secondary and tertiary alkyl halides with alkoxy diboron reagents at room temperature

A new catalytic system based on a Zn(II) NHC precursor has been developed for the cross-coupling reaction of alkyl halides with diboron reagents, which represents a novel use of a Group XII catalyst for CX borylation. This approach gives borylations of unactivated primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl halides at room temperature to furnish alkyl boronates, with good functional-group compatibility, under mild conditions. Preliminary mechanistic investigations demonstrated that this borylation reaction seems to involve one-electron processes.

Activation of the C–N bond of N-heterocyclic carbenes by inorganic elements

This frontier article summarizes the recent activity around a new mode of reactivity for N-heterocyclic carbenes: insertion of inorganic elements into the C–N bond of the carbene ring.

N-heterocyclic carbene stabilized phosphaalkenyl(chloro)stannylene

The first phosphaalkenyl(chloro)tin(ii) compound stabilized through complexation with a N-heterocyclic carbene was fully characterized, and its reaction with Me₂SAuCl led to the formation of an unprecedented PC-bridged trinuclear gold complex.

Metal-free dehydrogenation of amine-boranes by an N-heterocyclic carbene

The dehydrogenation of primary and secondary amine-boranes (RNH(2)·BH(3) and R(2)NH·BH(3); R = alkyl groups) was studied using the bulky N-heterocyclic carbene IPr (IPr = [(HCNDipp)C:]; Dipp = 2,6-(i)Pr(2)C(6)H(3)) as a stoichiometric dehydrogenation agent. In the case of primary amine-boranes, carbene-bound adducts IPr·BH(2)-NH(R)-BH(3) were obtained in place of the desired polymers [RNH-BH(2)](n). The secondary amine-borane (i)Pr(2)NH·BH(3) participated in dehydrogenation chemistry with IPr to afford the aminoborane [(i)Pr(2)N=BH(2)] and the dihydroaminal IPrH(2) as products. Attempts to induce H(2) elimination from the arylamine-borane DippNH(2)·BH(3) yielded a reaction mixture containing the known species IPr·BH(2)NHDipp, IPr·BH(2)NH(Dipp)-BH(3), free DippNH(2) and IPrH(2). The new hindered aryl-amine borane adduct Ar*NH(2)·BH(3) [Ar* = 2,6-(Ph(2)CH)(2)-4-MeC(6)H(2)] underwent a reaction with IPr to give IPr·BH(3) and free Ar*NH(2), consistent with the presence of a weaker N-B dative bond in Ar*NH(2)·BH(3) relative to its less hindered amine-borane analogues.