Boroxin

The general formula for boric acid esters is B(OR)2. The lower molecular weight esters such as methyl, ethyl, and phenyl are most commonly referred to as methyl borate [121 -43-7] ethyl borate [130-46-9J, and phenyl borate [1095-03-0] respectively. Some of the most common boric acid esters used in industrial appHcations are Hsted in Table 1. The nomenclature in the boric acid ester series can be confusing. The lUPAC committee on boron chemistry has suggested using trialkoxy- and triaryloxyboranes (5) for compounds usually referred to as boric acid esters, trialkyl (or aryl) borates, trialkyl (or aryl) orthoborates, alkyl (or aryl) borates, alkyl (or aryl) orthoborates, and in the older Hterature as boron alkoxides and aryloxides. CycHc boric acid esters, which are trimeric derivatives of metaboric acid (HBO2), are known as boroxines (1). 

Hydrocarbon Oxidation. The oxidation of hydrocarbons (qv) and hydrocarbon derivatives can be significantly altered by boron compounds. Several large-scale commercial processes, such as the oxidation of cyclohexane to a cyclohexanol—cyclohexanone mixture in nylon manufacture, are based on boron compounds (see Cylcohexanoland cyclohexanone Eibers, polyamide). A number of patents have been issued on the use of borate esters and boroxines in hydrocarbon oxidation reactions, but commercial processes apparently use boric acid as the preferred boron source. The Hterature in this field has been covered through 1967 (47). Since that time the Hterature consists of foreign patents, but no significant appHcations have been reported for borate esters. 

Trimethyl boroxine [823-96-1] M 125.5, b 80"/742mm, 79.3"/755mm, d 0.902. Possible impurity is methylboronic acid. If present then add a few drops of cone H2SO4 and distil immediately, then... 

Boronic acids readily dehydrate at moderate temperatures (or over P4O10 at room temperature) to give trimeric cyclic anhydrides known as trialkyl(aryl)boroxines ... 

B. 3-(4,4,5,5-Tetramethyl-[l,3,2]dioxaborolan-2-yl)pyridine. A 250-mL, one-necked, round-bottomed flask equipped with a magnetic stirbar and a Dean-Stark trap fitted with a condenser capped with a nitrogen inlet adaptor is charged with tris(3-pyridyl)boroxin-0.85 H20 (3.0 g, 9.1 mmol), pinacol (4.07 g, 34.4 mmol) (Note 6), and 120 mL of toluene. The solution is heated at reflux for 2.5 hr in a 120°C oil bath. The reaction is complete when the mixture changes from cloudy-white to clear. The solution is then concentrated under reduced pressure on a rotary evaporator to afford a solid residue. This solid is suspended in 15 mL of cyclohexane (Note 7) and the slurry is heated to 85°C, stirred at this temperature for 30 min, and then allowed to cool slowly to room temperature. The slurry is filtered, rinsed twice using the mother liquors, washed with 3 mL of cyclohexane, and dried under vacuum to afford 4.59 g (82%) of 3-pyridylboronic acid pinacol ester as a white solid (Note 8). 

The most studied class of boron polymers containing boron-silicon bonds are the carboranylenesiloxane polymers. The history of these polymers was discussed at the beginning of this chapter. The more recent advances in this group of polymers and in silicon-containing borazine and boroxine polymers are discussed in later sections of this chapter. In this section, some remaining groups of silicon-containing boron polymers are discussed. 

Boronic acids (69 and 70) (Fig. 45) with more than one boronic acid functionality are known to form a polymer system on thermolysis through the elimination of water.93 Specifically, they form a boroxine (a boron ring system) glass that could lead to high char formation on burning. Tour and co-workers have reported the synthesis of several aromatic boronic acids and the preparation of their blends with acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate (PC) resins. When the materials were tested for bum resistance using the UL-94 flame test, the bum times for the ABS samples were found to exceed 5 minutes, thereby showing unusual resistance to consumption by fire.94... 

Figure 45 Boronic acids (69 and 70) with multiple boronic acid functionalities that form boroxine ring systems on thermolysis through the elimination of water. (Adapted from ref. 93.)...

The best known boron-containing ring systems are the so-called inorganic benzenes, namely, borazine (71), boroxine (72), and triphosphatriborin (73) (Fig. 46), which are isoelectronic and isostructural with benzene. These ring systems are obtained by the interaction of boron with nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus, respectively.4... 

Figure 46 The planar structures of the boron ring systems, borazine (71) and boroxine (72), with nonexistent aromaticities and of triphosphatriborin (73) with an appreciable degree of aromaticity. (Adapted from ref. 95.)...

Boroxine ring-containing polymers have found extensive use in the development of polymeric electrolyte materials used in ion-selective transport membranes. Matsumi and Ohno cover this area in Chapter 6 of this book. 

Rhodium(i) complexes are excellent catalysts for the 1,4-addition of aryl- or 1-alkenylboron, -silicon, and -tin compounds to a,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. In contrast, there are few reports on the palladium(n) complex-catalyzed 1,4-addition to enones126,126a for the easy formation of C-bound enolate, which will result in /3-hydride elimination product of Heck reaction. Previously, Cacchi et al. described the palladium(n)-catalyzed Michael addition of ArHgCl or SnAr4 to enones in acidic water.127 Recently, Miyaura and co-workers reported the 1,4-addition of arylboronic acids and boroxines to a,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. A cationic palladium(n) complex [Pd(dppe)(PhCN)2](SbF6)2 was found to be an excellent catalyst for this reaction (dppe = l,2-bis(diphenyl-phosphine)ethane Scheme 42).128... 

The B-methyl catalysts were prepared by reacting the aminoalcohol with trimethyl-boroxine, followed by an azeotropic distillation with toluene. 

Requirements for safe storage of powdered Al, Hf, Mg, Ti, Zn and Zr are outlined. Fires are best extinguished with various fluxes, trimethyl boroxine, asbestos fines ( ), talc, graphite, sodium chloride, soda ash, lithium chloride or powdered dolomite [ ] Slurries of Al, Cd, Cu, Ge, In, Ni, Pb, Sn or Zn produced by metal atom-solvent cocondensation at — 196°C are extremely active chemically [2], and would be pyrophoric on exposure to air. 

The presence of diborane(6) in the photochemical vessel resulted in the production of boroxine, (-BH-0-)3 ... 

Figure 3.17. Scope of [Rh(OH)((5)-binap)]2-catalyzed as5dnmetric 1,4-addition of aryl-boroxines to a,P-enones.

In the asymmetric addition to alkenylphosphonate 33 (Eq. 2) [25], the yield is dependent on the amount of water present. The combination of boroxine and water (1 equiv. relative to boron) gave a high yield of the desired product 34, with 96% enantiomeric excess. The alkylphosphonate 34 can be used as a chiral building block for the synthesis of optically active alkenes, using a Horner-Emmons type of reaction. 

Today, there exist a wide variety of boron-containing polymers including ring systems such as borazines (structure 11.41), boroxines (structure 11.42), and triphosphatoborins (structure 11.43),... 

Calculated values of the HSE (see Section II,A,5) (88JA4204) indicate that aromatic character is decreased with an increase in the difference between electronegativities of the neighboring atoms. For example, for the series benzene (22), s-triazine (38), borazine (50), and boroxine (51) the ratio between their 4-31G calculated HSE values is roughly 3 2 1 0... 

Trialkyl derivatives of boron, and in fact many other molecules such as boroxines with carbon-boron bonds, react readily with oxygen. The initial products are peroxy derivatives with BOOR bonds, which tend to react further to form borate esters. The ease of the initial reaction is shown by the fact that reported examples of vinyl polymerization induced by trialkyl borons require oxygen and are actually radical processes induced by the boron oxygen reaction or intermediate peroxides (7). 

Reaction 17 resembles the displacements on phosphorus discussed earlier, except that since trialkyl borons are electron deficient with only six electrons around boron, no valence-shell expansion is required. It appears to be a general reaction for boron and has been suggested by Matteson (15) to explain the conversion of trimethyl boroxine by tert-buty hypo-... 

---