Using steric hindrance as a critical design element, several combinations of bulky Lewis acid�base pairs were effectively probed for heterolytic cleavage of hydrogen. Moreover, this remarkable capacity of FLPs was exploited in metal-free hydrogenation procedures. Additionally, the bifunctional and unquenched nature of the FLPs makes them capable of reacting with alkenes, dienes, acetylenes, and THF. Although this type of reactivity represents a breakthrough in main-group chemistry, its enhanced and non-orthogonal nature obviously limits the synthetic applicability of FLPs. Recently, we have implemeted a further design element, the size-exclusion design, to develop frustrated Lewis pairs with orthogonal reactivity and improved functional-group tolerance for catalytic metal-free hydrogenation.

Development of frustrated Lewis pairs with size-exclusion design

245th National Meeting (2013)

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