Dominic Auerhammer

Stable Five‐Coordinate Silicon(IV) Complexes with SiN4X Skeletons (X=S, Se, Te) and SiX Double Bonds

Silylenes: Reaction of the donor-stabilized silylene 1 with elemental sulfur, selenium, or tellurium led to the formation of 2 a-c [SiN(4)X skeletons (X = S, Se, Te)], the first stable five-coordinate silicon(IV) compounds with silicon-chalcogen double bonds (see figure).

Generation of Dicoordinate Boron(I) Units by Fragmentation of a Tetra‐Boron(I) Molecular Square

Reduction of carbene-borane adduct [(cAAC)BBr2 (CN)] (cAAC=1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-3,3,5,5-tetramethylpyrrolidin-2-ylidene) cleanly yielded the tetra(cyanoborylene) species [(cAAC)B(CN)]4 presenting a 12-membered (BCN)4 ring. The analysis of the Kohn-Sham molecular orbitals showed significant borylene character of the BI atoms. [(cAAC)B(CN)]4 was found to reduce two equivalents of AgCN per boron center to yield [(cAAC)B(CN)3 ] and fragmented into two-coordinate boron(I) units upon reaction with IMeMe (1,3,4,5-tetramethylimidazol-2-ylidene) to yield the corresponding tricoordinate mixed cAAC-NHC cyanoborylene. The analogous cAAC-phosphine cyanoborylene was obtained by reduction of [(cAAC)BBr2 (CN)] in the presence of excess phosphine.

From Borane to Borylene without Reduction: Ambiphilic Behavior of a Monovalent Silylisonitrile Boron Species

Deprotonation of [(cAAC)BH2 (CN)] provided clean access to the stable boryl anion, [(cAAC)BH(CN)]- . Whereas the addition of soft electrophiles occurred at the nucleophilic boron center, harder silyl electrophiles added to the harder terminal cyano nitrogen. The resulting [(cAAC)BH(CNSiPh3 )] species behaved like a silylium boryl nucleophile as well as a neutral silylisonitrile borylene.

Increasing the Reactivity of Diborenes: Derivatization of NHC‐Supported Dithienyldiborenes with Electron‐Donor Groups

A series of NHC-supported 1,2-dithienyldiborenes was synthesized from the corresponding (dihalo)thienylborane NHC precursors. NMR and UV/Vis spectroscopic data, as well as X-ray crystallographic analyses, were used to assess the electronic and steric influences on the B=B double bond of various NHCs and electron-donating substituents on the thienyl ligands. Crystallographic data showed that the degree of coplanarity of the diborene core and thienyl groups is highly dependent on the sterics of the substituents. Furthermore, any increase in the electron-donating ability of the substituents resulted in the destabilization of the HOMO and greater instability of the resulting diborenes.

The First Boron-Tellurium Double Bond: Direct Insertion of Heavy Chalcogens into a Mn=B Double Bond

The base-stabilized borylene [Cp(OC)2 Mn=BtBu(IMe)] readily reacts with elemental chalcogens in an insertion reaction that yields borachalcone complexes [Cp(OC)2 Mn-E=BtBu(IMe)] (E=S, Se, Te). The tellurium example features the first double bond between boron and tellurium, making Te the heaviest main-group element to make multiple bonds with boron. This unprecedented interaction has been fully investigated both experimentally and computationally.