Borane complexes relative stabilities

The following amine boranes are manufd by the Callery Chemical Co a)Dimethylamine-borane, (CH,)aNH BHS, wh solid b)Tri-methylamine-borane, (CHS)SN BH, wh solid e)Pyridine-borane, CBHSN BHb, col liquid These amine-boranes are relatively stable complexes and are of interest because they act as selective reducing agents, polymerization catalysts, anti-oxidants and stabilizing agents. They may also be used for the prepn of diborane and as petroleum additives. Further information may be obtained from Tech Bull C-200(Ref 2)... 

The stability of the coordinative bond in the borane complexes is determined by the electrophilicity of the borane, by the nucleophilicity of the ligand and by steric factors. The electrophilicity of the borane, in turn, depends on the electronegativity of the groups bonded to the boron and on the overlap between the unoccupied p orbital of the boron and the occupied p orbitals of the atoms directly bonded to it (p -p interaction). The predominance of the latter is reflected by the fact that the relative acidities of halogenoboranes increase in a sense opposite to that expected from electronegativity considerations and is supported by the very weak Lewis acidity of the alkoxy- and amino-boranes. The importance of steric factors is pointed out by Brown and co-workers.13-15... 

Based on the data in Table 1, on additional semiquantitative data and upon qualitative observations2,9,11 the following order of relative stabilities could be established for borane complexes ... 

For borane complexes of intermediate strength the order of relative stabilities can also be estimated from equilibrium data as well, obtained in gas phase or in solution.11,23 From the temperature dependence of the equilibrium constant for the dissociation in the gas phase the A% values can be determined with great accuracy.22... 

In addition to these limited procedures a number of experimental methods (vibrational spectroscopy, dipole moment measurements, electron diffraction, NMR, etc.) have been employed to determine the relative stabilities of these complexes.11,23 Intense effort has been directed towards establishing some kind of correlation between NMR parameters and stability of the borane complexes. The chemical shifts alone rarely show good correlation. However, complexation shifts (the chemical shift difference between the free and complexed borane or ligand) and various spin-spin coupling constants correlate better with calorimetric data, especially for ligands or boranes belonging to structurally similar series (Table 2).10,24... 

Many phosphine-borane complexes Y3P BZ3 have been characterized. They include compouuds where Y = alkoxy, aUcyl, amino, halide, and hydride groups, and Z = alkyl, halide, and hydride. The stabilities of these complexes vary widely depending on the Lewis acidity and basicity of the boron and phosphorus moieties, respectively. The relative stabilities of Lewis acid-base complexes with BH3 are R3P > R3N > R3AS > R3Sb, but with BF3 the order is R3N > R3P > R3AS > RsSb. The stabihties of the borou halide complexes of phosphines follow the same order as the amine complexes BI3 > BBrs > BCI3 > BF3. 

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