Steric crowding is and has been a very successful strategy to stabilize compounds in unusual oxidation states and low coordination numbers as well as to isolate compounds with multiple bonds involving heavier atoms. Our groups have embarked on an opposite approach: the generation of “naked” cations. “Naked” in this context means that the cation is just loosely coordinated by the anions and/or low basicity solvent molecules. We will report on our efforts to prepare and determine the reactivities of compounds such as M[WCA]2 (M = Mg, Zn; WCA = weakly coordinating anion including [HexCB11Cl11]- and [Bu3NB12H4Cl7]-). For example, the zinc salt Zn[HexCB11Cl11]2 is readily soluble in bromo- and fluorobenzene, and it is an active catalyst for the hydrosilylation of olefins. In addition and maybe counterintuitive, the absence of cation-anion interactions enabled the isolation of gallium(I) cations such as [Ga(arene)n][WCA].

Who needs bulky substituents?

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.