Nitrile insertion into a boryl-substituted five-membered zirconacycloallenoid: unexpected formation of a zwitterionic boratirane product

Borirenes and Boriranes: Development and Perspectives

Strained compounds constitute a highly topical area of research in chemistry. Borirene and borirane both feature a BC2 three-membered ring. They can be viewed as the structural analogues of cyclopropane and cyclopropene, where a CH2 unit of the carbonaceous counterparts is replaced with BH, respectively. Indeed, this structural variation introduces numerous intriguing aspects. For instance, borirane and borirene are both Lewis acidic due to the presence of a tricoordinate borane center. In addition, borirene is 2π aromatic according to Hückel's rule. In addition to their ability to form adducts with Lewis bases and the capacity of borirenes to act as ligands in coordination with metals, both borirenes and boriranes exhibit ring-opening reactivity due to the considerable ring strain. Under specific conditions, coordinated boriranes can even cleave two BC bonds to serve as formal borylene sources (although the reaction mechanisms are quite complex). On the other hand, recent successful syntheses of benzoborienes and their carborane-based three-dimensional analogues (also referred to as carborane-fused boriranes) have introduced novel perspectives to this field. For instance, they display excellent ring-expanding reactivity, possibly attributed to the boosted ring strain arising from the fusion of borirenes with benzene and boriranes with o-carborane. Importantly, their applications as valuable "BC2 " synthons have become increasingly evident along with the newly disclosed reactivity. Additionally, the boosted Lewis acidity of carborane-fused boriranes, thanks to the potent electron-withdrawing effect of o-carborane, combined with their readiness for ring enlargement, makes them promising candidates as electron-accepting building blocks in the construction of chemically responsive luminescent materials. This review provides a summary of the synthesis and reactivity of borirene and borirane derivatives, with the aim of encouraging the design of new borierene- and borirane-based molecules and inspiring further exploration of their potential applications.

Reactions of five-membered zirconacycloalkynes and zirconacycloallenes with Cp2Zr(H)Cl; formal hydrogenation by metal hydrides

Reactions of five-membered zirconacycloalkynes and zirconacyloallenes (1-zirconacyclopent-3-ynes and 1-zirconacyclopenta-2,3-dienes) with an excess of Cp₂Zr(H)Cl, known as the Schwartz reagent, were studied. Both reactions gave five-membered zirconacycloalkenes, 1-zirconacyclopent-3-enes without subsequent work-up such as protonolysis and hydrogenolysis. The product was identical to the zirconocene-diene complex that was prepared from Cp₂Zr(n-Bu)₂ (Negishi reagent) and the corresponding 1,4-disubstituted 1,3-dienes. These results indicate that formal hydrogenation by metal hydride took place. The use of diisobutylaluminum hydride or 9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane also gave the same product, albeit in lower yields. The reactions starting from deuterated compounds suggested that double hydrozirconation followed by elimination of a dinuclear zirconium complex resulted in the hydrogenated products.

Water-Soluble Rhenium Phosphine Complexes Incorporating the Ph2C(X) Motif (X = O-, NH-): Structural and Cytotoxicity Studies

Reaction of [ReOCl₃(PPh₃)₂] or [ReO₂I(PPh₃)₂] with 2,2'-diphenylglycine (dpgH₂) in refluxing ethanol afforded the air-stable complex [ReO(dpgH)(dpg)(PPh₃)] (1). Treatment of [ReO(OEt)I₂(PPh₃)₂] with 1,2,3-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane (PTA) afforded the complex [ReO(OEt)I₂(PTA)₂] (2). Reaction of [ReOI₂(PTA)₃] with dpgH₂ led to the isolation of the complex [Re(NCPh₂)I₂(PTA)₃]·0.5EtOH (3·0.5EtOH). A similar reaction but using [ReOX₂(PTA)₃] (X = Cl, Br) resulted in the analogous halide complexes [Re(NCPh₂)Cl₂(PTA)₃]·2EtOH (4·2EtOH) and [Re(NCPh₂)(PTA)₃Br₂]·1.6EtOH (5·1.6EtOH). Using benzilic acid (2,2'-diphenylglycolic acid, benzH) with 2 afforded the complex [ReO(benz)₂(PTA)][PTAH]·EtOH (6·EtOH). The potential for the formation of complexes using radioisotopes with relatively short half-lives suitable for nuclear medicine applications by developing conditions for [Re(NCPh₂)(dpg)I(PTA)₃] (7)[ReO₄]^- in a 4 h time scale was investigated. A procedure for the technetium analog of complex [Re(NCPh₂)I₂(PTA)₃] (3) from ^99mTc[TcO₄]^- was then investigated. The molecular structures of 1-7 are reported; complexes 3-7 have been studied using in vitro cell assays (HeLa, HCT116, HT-29, and HEK 293) and were found to have IC₅₀ values in the range of 29-1858 μM.

Design and reactions of a carbon Lewis base/boron Lewis acid frustrated Lewis pair

The conjugated dienamine 4 selectively adds Piers' borane [HB(C₆F₅)₂] to give the enamine/borane system 5, which features a boratirane structure by internal enamine carbon Lewis base to boron Lewis acid interaction. Compound 5 behaves as a C/B frustrated Lewis pair and undergoes typical addition reactions to benzaldehyde, several nitriles and to sulfur dioxide.This article is part of the themed issue 'Frustrated Lewis pair chemistry'.

A facile and selective route to remarkably inert monocyclic NHC-stabilized boriranes

Herein we report a facile and selective synthetic route to monocyclic NHC-stabilized boriranes. We have succeeded in obtaining two highly stable new boriranes through salt elimination of NHC-stabilized dichloroboranes with the dianion of trans-stilbene, Na2[C14H12]. One borirane was observed to undergo reaction with [Pt(PEt3)3], in which the Pt(0) center oxidatively adds a backbone C-H bond of the NHC, leading to the isolation of the Pt(II) complex trans-[(Et3P)2PtH{C=CH(NMe)2C·BPh(C14H12)}]. The remarkable inertness of the NHC-boriranes suggests a strong stabilising effect of quaternization of the boron atom.

Direct synthesis of a geminal zwitterionic phosphonium/hydridoborate system--developing an alternative tool for generating frustrated Lewis pair hydrogen activation systems

A convenient way to a new class of geminal Mes2PH(+)/B(C6F5)2H(-) pairs is presented. It utilizes triflic acid addition to trans-Mes2PCH=CHB(C6F5)2 followed by triflate/hydride exchange. Thermally induced ring-closure gave a phosphonium/boratacyclopropane zwitterion 8 which formed the Mes2PH(CHMe)B(C6F5)2H P/B FLP-H2 product 10 by subsequent treatment with triflic acid and a silane, or alternatively with dihydrogen at 90 °C. The product 10 is an active catalyst for the hydrogenation of a variety of unsaturated organic substrates, including a quinoline derivative. Treatment of compound 8 with HB(C6F5)2 gave a bifunctional borane 14 which selectively reduced carbon monoxide to the formyl stage.

Cleavage and reorganization of Zr-C/Si-C bonds leading to Zr/Si-N organometallic and heterocyclic compounds

The t-BuCN-stabilized zirconacyclopropene-azasilacyclopentadiene complexes 2 are generated in situ in high yields from the Si-tethered diynes, Cp(2)Zr(II) species, and 2 equiv of t-BuCN via a coordination-induced Zr-C/Si-C bond cleavage and reorganization. Complexes 2 have been demonstrated to be synthetically very useful. A variety of novel Zr/Si organo-bimetallic compounds and Si/N heterocyclic compounds, such as azasilacyclopentadienes, azasilacyclohexadienes, and allenylazazirconacycles, are obtained in high yields when complexes 2 are treated with ketones, carbodiimides, alkynes, elemental sulfur (S(8)), acid chlorides, or nitriles. In this chemistry, t-BuCN behaves as both an initiator and a brake/release handle to initiate and control the reaction process.