Stable compounds containing boron-boron double bonds have been considered inaccessible for a long time due to the electron-deficient nature of the boron atoms. This inability to fill bonding p orbitals can be overcome by either reduction or coordination of a Lewis base. Only recently, synthetic access to neutral diborenes was given by reductive coupling of N-heterocyclic carbene stabilized haloboranes.[1] We present the selective and high yielding synthesis of novel diborenes and their characterization by experimental (NMR, X-Ray, UV-Vis) and theoretical (TD-DFT) methods. First reactivity studies show these diborenes to be viable ligands in transition metal chemistry to give complexes with olefin-like ??2? coordination modes.[2][1] Y. Wang, B. Quillian, P. Wei, C. S. Wannere, Y. Xie, R. B. King, H. F. Schaefer III, P. v. R. Schleyer, G. H. Robinson, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007 , 129, 12412 - 12413.[2] P. Bissinger, H. Braunschweig, A. Damme, T. Kupfer, A. Vargas, Angew. Chem. 2012  , 124, 10069 - 10073; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012  , 51, 9931 - 9934.

B-B-double bonds: Selective generation and coordination behavior toward transition metals

245th National Meeting (2013)

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