Tris(borane) adducts of diphosphanylmethanides: The [H3BCH(PPh2BH3)2]- anion and its alkali metal complexes

Jens Langer*, Robert Geitner, Helmar Görls

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The reactivity of lithium complexes that contain the borane-modified diphoshanylmethanide ligand [CH(PPh2BH3)2]- towards different Lewis base adducts of BH3 was studied to gain further insight into the mechanism of the isomerization of this derivative, which formally proceeds through a shift of one BH3 group from the phosphorus atom to the carbon atom. Whereas the use of BH3·THF in THF only resulted in the thf adduct of the starting material, [Li{CH(PPh2BH3)2}(thf)2] (1), the application of BH3·SMe2 in toluene resulted in the formation of the novel compound [(Li{H3BCH(PPh2BH3)2})] (2). The subsequent addition of ethereal ligands led to the isolation of [Li{H3BCH(PPh2BH3)2}(Me4thf)] (3) and [Li{H3BCH(PPh2BH3)2}(thf)3] (4). Treatment of these complexes with stronger Lewis bases such as N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethane-1,2-diamine (tmeda) results in the removal of one phosphorus-bound BH3 molecule and the formation of the [Ph2PCH(BH3)PPh2BH3]- anion. These results indicate that the isomerization of [CH(PPh2BH3)2]- requires an additional BH3 source and a rather strong Lewis base. Complexes 1-4 and the related derivatives [Li{CH(PPh2BH3)2}(Me4THF)] (5) and [K{H3BCH(PPh2BH3)2}(dme)2] (6; dme = 1,2-dimethoxyethane) were characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5940-5947
Number of pages8
JournalEuropean Journal of Inorganic Chemistry
Volume2014
Issue number34
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Boranes
  • Lithium
  • Phosphanes
  • Potassium
  • X-ray diffraction

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