Heidi Schneider

Adduct Formation, B−H Activation and Ring Expansion at Room Temperature from Reactions of HBcat with NHCs

We report the reactions of catecholborane (HBcat; 1) with unsaturated and saturated NHCs as well as CAAC(Me) . Mono-NHC adducts of the type HBcat⋅NHC (NHC=nPr2 Im, iPr2 Im, iPr2 Im(Me) , and Dipp2 Im) were obtained by stoichiometric reactions of HBcat with the unsaturated NHCs. The reaction of CAAC(Me) with HBcat yielded the B-H activated product CAAC(Me) (H)Bcat via insertion of the carbine-carbon atom into the B-H bond. The saturated NHC Dipp2 SIm reacted in a 2:2 ratio yielding an NHC ring-expanded product at room temperature forming a six-membered -B-C=N-C=C-N- ring via C-N bond cleavage and further migration of the hydrides from two HBcat molecules to the former carbene-carbon atom.

Reactivity of NHC Alane Adducts towards N‐Heterocyclic Carbenes and Cyclic (Alkyl)(amino)carbenes: Ring Expansion, Ring Opening, and Al−H Bond Activation

The synthesis of mono-NHC alane adducts of the type (NHC)⋅AlH3 (NHC=Me2 Im (1), Me2 ImMe (2), iPr2 Im (3 and [D3 ]-3), iPr2 ImMe (4), Dipp2 Im (10); Im=imidazolin-2-ylidene, Dipp=2,6-diisopropylphenyl) and (NHC)⋅AliBu2 H (NHC=iPr2 Im (11), Dipp2 Im (12)) as well as their reactivity towards different types of carbenes is presented. Although the mono-NHC adducts remained stable at elevated temperatures, ring expansion occurred when (iPr2 Im)⋅AlH3 (3) was treated with a second equivalent of the carbene iPr2 Im to give (iPr2 Im)⋅AlH(RER-iPr2 ImH2 ) (6). In 6, {(iPr2 Im}AlH} is inserted into the NHC ring. In contrast, ring opening was observed with the sterically more demanding Dipp2 Im with the formation of (iPr2 Im)⋅AlH2 (ROR-Dipp2 ImH2 )H2 Al⋅(iPr2 Im) (9). In 9, two {(iPr2 Im)⋅AlH2 } moieties stabilize the ring-opened Dipp2 Im. If two hydridic sites are blocked, the adducts are stable with respect to further ring expansion or ring opening, as exemplified by the adducts (iPr2 Im)⋅AliBu2 H (11) and (Dipp2 Im)⋅AliBu2 H (12). The adducts (NHC)⋅AlH3 and (iPr2 Im)⋅AliBu2 H reacted with cAACMe by insertion of the carbene carbon atom into the Al-H bond to give (NHC)⋅AlH2 /iBu2 (cAACMe H) (13-18) instead of ligand substitution, ring-expansion, or ring-opened products.

Chiral and Achiral Basket-Handle Porphyrins: Short Synthesis and Stereostructures of These Versatile Building Blocks

Both, chiral and achiral basket-handle porphyrins were synthesized via a short, reliable, and efficient route in multigram quantities. Standard synthetic protocols such as metalation of the macrocycle, halogenation, and borylation of the porphyrin core or alkyl- and arylation with lithium organyls were successfully adapted. The planar-chiral representatives were resolved into their enantiomers, whose absolute configurations were determined by comparison of experimental CD spectra with TDCAM-B3LYP calculated ones.

Iron(II), Cobalt(II), Nickel(II), and Zinc(II) Silylene Complexes: Reaction of the Silylene [iPrNC(NiPr2)NiPr]2Si with FeBr2, CoBr2, NiBr2⋅MeOCH2CH2OMe, ZnCl2, and ZnBr2

Reaction of the donor-stabilized silylene [iPrNC(NiPr2 )NiPr]2 Si (1) with FeBr2 , CoBr2 , NiBr2 ⋅MeOCH2 CH2 OMe, ZnCl2 , and ZnBr2 afforded the respective transition-metal silylene complexes 4-8, the formation of which can be described in terms of a Lewis acid/base reaction (4, 5, 7, 8) or a nucleophilic substitution reaction (6). However, the reactivity profile of silylene 1 is not only based on its strong Lewis base character; the different coordination modes of the two guanidinato ligands (4-6 vs. 7 and 8) add an additional reactivity facet. The paramagnetic compounds 4 and 5 and the diamagnetic compounds 6⋅THF, 7, and 8⋅0.5 Et2 O were structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In addition, compound 6⋅THF was studied by 15 N and 29 Si solid-state NMR spectroscopy, and 7 and 8 were characterized by NMR spectroscopic studies in the solid state (15 N, 29 Si) and in solution (1 H, 13 C, 29 Si). Compounds 4-8 represent very rare examples of FeII , CoII , NiII , and ZnII silylene complexes. Four-coordinate silicon(II) compounds with an SiN3 M skeleton (M=Fe, Co, Ni) and M in the formal oxidation state +2 (4-6) have not yet been reported, and five-coordinate silicon(II) compounds with an SiN4 Zn skeleton (7, 8) are also unprecedented.

Electronic Structure and Excited-State Dynamics of an Arduengo-Type Carbene and its Imidazolone Oxidation Product

We describe an investigation of the excited-state dynamics of isolated 1,3-di-tert-butyl-imidazoline-2-ylidene (tBu2 Im, C11 H20 N2 , m/z=180), an Arduengo-type carbene, by time- and frequency-resolved photoionization using a picosecond laser system. The energies of several singlet and triplet excited states were calculated by time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). The S1 state of the carbene deactivates on a 100 ps time scale possibly by intersystem crossing. In the experiments we observed an additional signal at m/z=196, that was assigned to the oxidation product 1,3-di-tert-butyl-imidazolone, tBu2 ImO. It shows a well-resolved resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) spectrum with an origin located at 36951 cm-1 . Several low-lying vibrational bands could be assigned, with a lifetime that depends strongly on the excitation energy. At the origin the lifetime is longer than 3 ns, but drops to 49 ps at higher excess energies. To confirm formation of the imidazolone we also performed experiments on benzimidazolone (BzImO) for comparison. Apart from a redshift for BzImO the spectra of the two compounds are very similar. The TD-DFT values display a very good agreement with the experimental data.

CCDC 1529577: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

Related Article: Martin Eck, Sabrina Wurtemberger-Pietsch, Antonius Eichhorn, Johannes H. J. Berthel, Rudiger Bertermann, Ursula S. D. Paul, Heidi Schneider, Alexandra Friedrich, Christian Kleeberg, Udo Radius, Todd B. Marder|2017|Dalton Trans.|46|3661|doi:10.1039/C7DT00334J