Boryl-functionalized σ-alkynyl and vinylidene rhodium complexes: synthesis and electronic properties.

The synthesis, reactivity, and properties of boryl-functionalized σ-alkynyl and vinylidene rhodium complexes such as trans-[RhCl(=C=CHBMes2)(PiPr3)2] and trans-[Rh(C≡CBMes2)(IMe)(PiPr3)2] are reported. An equilibrium was found to exist between rhodium vinylidene complexes and the corresponding hydrido σ-alkynyl complexes in solution. The complex trans-[Rh(C≡CBMes2)(IMe)(PiPr3)2] (IMe=1,3-dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene) was found to exhibit solvatochromism and can be quasireversibly oxidized and reduced electrochemically.

Diverse reactions of N-heterocyclic carbenes with an alkynylborane and isolation of a reactive zwitterionic borataallene.

Ethynyldimesitylborane (1) is synthesised via salt elimination and its reactivity towards NHCs is studied. Depending on their size, NHCs attack either at the boron atom or at the β-alkynyl carbon atom. Steric control over the reaction was probed by reactions with N-heterocyclic carbenes yielding a carbene-borane adduct (2), a 1-boraindane (3), and the first structurally characterised borataallene (4).

Electronic and structural effects of stepwise borylation and quaternization on borirene aromaticity.

Room-temperature photolysis of the aminoboryl complex [(OC)(5)Cr═B═N(SiMe(3))(2)] in the presence of a series of mono- or bis(boryl) alkynes bis{bis(dimethylamino)boryl}ethyne, 1-phenyl-2-bis(dimethylamino)borylethyne, and 1-trimethylsilyl-2-bis(dimethylamino)borylethyne led to the isolation of hitherto unknown borylborirenes in resonable yields, that is, [(RC═CR')(μ-BN(SiMe(3))(2))] (7, R = B(NMe(2))(2), R' = Ph; 8, R = R' = B(NMe(2))(2); 9, R = B(NMe(2))(2), R' = SiMe(3)). The borirenes were isolated and spectroscopically characterized by multinuclear NMR, IR, and UV/vis spectroscopy, crystallography, and elemental analysis. Reactivity studies of the borirenes demonstrated their behavior toward different Lewis bases.

Unsupported boron-carbon σ-coordination to platinum as an isolable snapshot of σ-bond activation.

σ-Complexes of transition metals-key intermediates in metal-mediated bond activation and homogeneous catalysis-have traditionally been isolable only when chelating or when one of the participating atoms is hydrogen. Here, by treating the Lewis-basic transition metal complex [Pt(PEt(3))(4)] with an electron-poor borirene, we isolate a complex with an unsupported borirene ligand bound, not through the unsaturated C=C bond, but exclusively via a B-C single bond. Using NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and density functional theory calculations, we show, herein, that coordination of the borirene ligand is based on electron donation from the B-C σ bond to the metal, aided by a strong Pt-to-B dative interaction.

Bonding in a borylene complex investigated by photoionization and dissociative photoionization.

The borylene complex [(OC)(5)Cr=B=N(SiMe(3))(2)] has been investigated by using threshold photoelectron-photoion coincidence spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation. The ionization energy of the parent complex and the 0 K appearance energies of the sequential CO loss channels have been determined. The derived bond-dissociation energies are used to discuss bonding and energetics in this compound.

V-shaped 4,6-bis(arylvinyl)pyrimidine oligomers: synthesis and optical properties.

A series of V-shaped 4,6-bis(arylvinyl)pyrimidines have been efficiently prepared by aldol condensation between 4,6-dimethylpyrimidine and the appropriate aromatic aldehyde. The methodology also proved successful when dendritic first generation poly(phenylenevinylene) aldehydes were used. Moreover, asymmetrically functionalized molecules were also obtained by the stepwise incorporation of arms in a controlled manner.