Assessing the Brønsted Basicity of Diaminoboryl Anions: Reactivity toward Methylated Benzenes and Dihydrogen

Approaching a "Naked" Boryl Anion: Amide Metathesis as a Route to Calcium, Strontium, and Potassium Boryl Complexes

Amide metathesis has been used to generate the first structurally characterized boryl complexes of calcium and strontium, {(Me3 Si)2 N}M{B(NDippCH)2 }(thf)n (M=Ca, n=2; M=Sr, n=3), through the reactions of the corresponding bis(amides), M{N(SiMe3 )2 }2 (thf)2 , with (thf)2 Li- {B(NDippCH)2 }. Most notably, this approach can also be applied to the analogous potassium amide K{N(SiMe3 )2 }, leading to the formation of the solvent-free borylpotassium dimer [K{B(NDippCH)2 }]2 , which is stable in the solid state at room temperature for extended periods (48 h). A dimeric structure has been determined crystallographically in which the K+ cations interact weakly with both the ipso-carbons of the flanking Dipp groups and the boron centres of the diazaborolyl heterocycles, with K⋅⋅⋅B distances of >3.1 Å. These structural features, together with atoms in molecules (QTAIM) calculations imply that the boron-containing fragment closely approaches a limiting description as a "free" boryl anion in the condensed phase.

A meta-Selective C-H Alumination of Mono-Substituted Benzene by Using An Alkyl-Substituted Al Anion through Hydride-Eliminating SN Ar Reaction

Reaction of an Al-centered anion with toluene proceeded to form C-H cleaved product with a perfect meta-selectivity and a relatively small kinetic isotope effect (KIE, k_H /k_D =1.51). DFT calculations suggested a two-step reaction mechanism and electronically controlled meta-selectivity arising from the electron-donating methyl group. The reaction with other mono-substituted arenes was also investigated.

Metallomimetic Chemistry of Boron

The study of main-group molecules that behave and react similarly to transition-metal (TM) complexes has attracted significant interest in recent decades. Most notably, the attractive idea of replacing the all-too-often rare and costly metals from catalysis has motivated efforts to develop main-group-element-mediated reactions. Main-group elements, however, lack the electronic flexibility of TM complexes that arises from combinations of empty and filled d orbitals and that seem ideally suited to bind and activate many substrates. In this review, we look at boron, an element that despite its nonmetal nature, low atomic weight, and relative redox staticity has achieved great milestones in terms of TM-like reactivity. We show how in interelement cooperative systems, diboron molecules, and hypovalent complexes the fifth element can acquire a truly metallomimetic character. As we discuss, this character is powerfully demonstrated by the reactivity of boron-based molecules with H₂, CO, alkynes, alkenes and even with N₂.

Synthesis, Structure and Reactivity of a Borylene Cation [(NHSi)2B(CO)]+ Stabilized by Three Neutral Ligands

A borylene cation stabilized by bis(silylene) and carbon monoxide was prepared and structurally characterized via the reaction of bis(silylene)-stabilized bromoborylene with W(CO)₆. This is the first example of a borylene cation coordinated by three neutral ligands, which can be viewed as a cationic form of a long-sought Lewis base-stabilized zerovalent boron compound. This cation can cleave dihydrogen.

Borylation of fluorinated arenes using the boron-centred nucleophile B(CN)32- - a unique entry to aryltricyanoborates

The potassium salt of the boron-centred nucleophile B(CN)32- (1) readily reacts with perfluorinated arenes, such as hexafluorobenzene, decafluorobiphenyl, octafluoronaphthalene and pentafluoropyridine, which results in KF and the K+ salts of the respective borate anions with one {B(CN)3} unit bonded to the (hetero)arene. An excess of K21 leads to the successive reaction of two or, in the case of perfluoropyridine, even three C-F moieties and the formation of di- and trianions, respectively. Moreover, all of the 11 partially fluorinated benzene derivatives, C6F6-n H n (n = 1-5), generally react with K21 to give new tricyano(phenyl)borate anions with high chemo- and regioselectivity. A decreasing number of fluorine substituents on benzene results in a decrease in the reaction rate. In the cases of partially fluorinated benzenes, the addition of LiCl is advantageous or even necessary to facilitate the reaction. Also, pentafluorobenzenes R-C6F5 (R = -CN, -OMe, -Me, or -CF3) react via C-F/C-B exchange that mostly occurs in the para position and to a lesser extent in the meta or ortho positions. Most of the reactions proceed via an SNAr mechanism. The reaction of 1,4-F2C6H4 with K21 shows that an aryne mechanism has to be considered in some cases as well. In summary, a wealth of new stable tricyano(aryl)borates have been synthesised and fully characterized using multi-NMR spectroscopy and most of them were characterised using single-crystal X-ray diffraction.

Isolation and Characterization of Radical Anions Derived from a Boryl-Substituted Diphosphene

Radical anions of a diphosphene with two boryl substituents were isolated and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, electron spin resonance (ESR), and UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy as well as DFT calculations. Structural analysis of the radical anions revealed an elongation of the P=P bond and a contraction of the B-P bonds relative to the neutral diphosphene. The UV/Vis spectra of these radical anions showed a strong absorption in the visible region, which was assigned to SOMO-related transitions on the basis of DFT calculations. The ESR spectra revealed that the hyperfine coupling constant with the phosphorus nuclei is the smallest that has been reported thus far. The results of the DFT calculations furthermore suggest that this should be attributed to a soaking of electron spin to the vacant p orbitals of the boryl substituents.

Deprotonation of a Hydridoborate Anion

The first deprotonation of a borohydride anion was achieved by treatment of [BH(CN)₃ ]^- with strong non-nucleophilic bases, which resulted in the formation of alkali-metal salts of the tricyanoborate dianion B(CN)₃^2- in up to 97 % yield and 99.5 % purity. [BH(CN)₃ ]^- is less acidic than (Me₃ Si)₂ NH but a stronger acid than iPr₂ NH. Less sterically hindered, more nucleophilic bases such as PhLi and MeLi mostly attack a CN group under formation of imine dianions [RC(N)B(CN)₃ ]^2- , which can be hydrolyzed to ketones of the [RC(O)B(CN)₃ ]^- type. The boron-centered nucleophile B(CN)₃^2- reacts with CO₂ and CN⁺ reagents to give salts of the [B(CN)₃ CO₂ ]^2- dianion and the tetracyanoborate anion [B(CN)₄ ]^- , respectively, in excellent yields.

A Boryl-Substituted Diphosphene: Synthesis, Structure, and Reaction with n-Butyllithium To Form a Stabilized Adduct by pπ-pπ Interaction

A boryl-substituted diphosphene was synthesized through the nucleophilic borylation of PCl3 with a borylzinc reagent, followed by a reduction with Mg. A combined analysis of the resulting diboryldiphosphene by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, DFT calculations, and UV/Vis spectroscopy revealed a σ-electron-donating effect for the boryl substituent that was slightly weaker than that of the 2,4,6-tri-tert-butylphenyl (Mes*) ligand. The reaction of this diboryldiphosphene with (n) BuLi afforded a boryl-substituted phosphinophosphide that was, in comparison with the thermally unstable Mes*-substituted diaryldiphosphene, stabilized by a π-electron-accepting effect of the boryl substituent.

Lowering the reduction potential of a boron compound by means of the substituent effect of the boryl group: one-electron reduction of an unsymmetrical diborane(4)

We have clarified and observed the high electron affinity of pinB-BMes2 (1; Mes = mesityl, pin = pinacolato). By using electrochemistry, it was shown that 1 has a higher electron affinity than those of B2pin2 and Mes3B. One-electron reduction of 1 gave the corresponding radical anion. The ESR spectroscopy and DFT calculation revealed the unsymmetrical distribution of electron density over the B-B bond. UV/Vis spectroscopy showed that the SOMO-related absorption supports the deep purple color of the radical anion. DFT studies on the torsion angle dependency of the LUMO levels and relative energies revealed the reason why 1 has high electron affinity as a result of the substituent effect of the Bpin group.