Classical boron

The discovery of 1 (1), in 1970, opened a new and fascinating chapter of organometallic chemistry. This cation was the first compound derived from the hypothetical borabenzene 2 and the first complex of a classical boron-carbon ligand. Since then approximately 100 borabenzene derivatives, mainly complexes of 3d metals, have been characterized. Other unsaturated boron-carbon systems have been shown to act as ligands to metals (2). This development has also strongly stimulated the challenging quest for the simple species 2-5. 

A kinetic study of the Ph2BOH-catalysed reactions of several aldehydes with 2 revealed that the rate of the disappearance of 2 followed first-order kinetics and was independent from the reactivity of the aldehydes used. Taking into account this result, we have proposed the reaction mechanism in which a silyl enol ether is transformed to the corresponding diphenylboryl enolate before the aldol addition step takes place (Scheme 13.1). The high diastereoselectivity is consistent with the mechanism, in which the aldol step proceeds via a chair-like six-membered transition state. The opposite diastereoselectivity in the reaction with the geometrical isomers of the thioketene silyl acetal shown in Table 13.3 also supports the mechanism via the boron enolate, because this trend was also observed in the classical boron enolate-mediated reactions in dry organic solvents. Although we have not yet observed the boron enolates directly under the reaction conditions, this mechanism can explain all of the experimental data obtained and is considered as the most reasonable one. As far as we know, this is the first example of... 

From Boron Halides. Using boron haUdes is not economically desirable because boron haUdes are made from boric acid. However, this method does provide a convenient laboratory synthesis of boric acid esters. The esterification of boron haUdes with alcohol is analogous to the classical conversion of carboxyUc acid haUdes to carboxyUc esters. Simple mixing of the reactants at room temperature or below ia a solvent such as methylene chloride, chloroform, pentane, etc, yields hydrogen haUde and the borate ia high yield. 

The first definitive studies of boron hydrides were carried out by Alfred Stock in Germany starting about 1912 (1). Through extensive and now classic synthetic studies, the field of boron hydride chemistry was founded with the isolation of a series of highly reactive, air-sensitive, and volatile compounds of general composition and This accomplishment required the development of basic vacuum line techniques for the... 

Similar possibilities arise for 10-atom clusters. Thus, dimerization of the c/oso-CtBj claster l,5-Me2C2B3Et3 (56) by means of K metal then I2 in thf yields the classical adaniantane derivative Me4C4B6Et6 (f) when this is heated to 160° the mdd-tetracaibadecaborane cluster (g) is obtained rapidly and quantitatively. It will be noted that in (f) all four C atoms are 4-coordinate and all six B atoms are 3-coordinate, whereas in (g) the three C atoms in the C3 triangular face are 5-coordinate while the boron atoms are variously 4, 5 or 6 coordinate. 

The most commonly used traditional Lewis acids are halides of aluminum, boron, titanium, zinc, tin, and copper. However, there are also more complex Lewis-acids that are quite effective catalysts that can be easily modified for carring out enantioselective processes, by incorporating chiral ligands. These can overcome some limitations associated with the use of classical Lewis acids [47]. 

The Suzuki-Miyaura and Heck reactions were recently also reported under conventional heating conditions [39,40]. A variety of 3-chloro pyrazinones were reacted with commercially available (hetero)aryl boronic acids or the alkyl-9-BBN derivatives under either classical or slightly modified Suzuki conditions to generate the 3-substituted analogues, however having the drawback of longer reaction times of up to 12 h of reflux. 

These compounds are the most stable of the three classes of organothal-lium(III) derivatives and have been prepared by a wide variety of classical organometallic procedures. Many exchange reactions of TIX3 (X = Cl, carboxylate) with organo derivatives of boron, mercury, tin, lead, etc., have been shown to result in formation of R2TIX compounds 73, 78), but are of relatively little preparative significance. The most frequently used procedure... 

The protocol offers a direct and efficient method for the synthesis of the boronic ester in the solid phase, which hitherto met with little success using classical methodology (Scheme 1-42). A solid-phase boronate (113 [155], 114 [156]) is quantitatively obtained by treating a polymer-bound iodoarene with the diboron (82). The subsequent coupling with haloarenes furnishes various biaryls. The robot synthesis or the parallel synthesis on the surface of resin is the topic of further accounts of the research. 

This electrophile/nucleophile dichotomy can be looked upon as a special case of the acid/base idea. The classical definition of acids and bases is that the former are proton donors, and the latter proton acceptors. This was made more general by Lewis, who defined acids as compounds prepared to accept electron pairs, and bases as substances that could provide such pairs. This would include a number of compounds not previously thought of as acids and bases, e.g. boron trifluoride (39),... 

Two structures are possible for the interaction of aromatic hydrocarbons with acids.270 In the a-structures a covalent bond is established between the acidic reagent and a particular carbon atom of the benzene ring. The a-structures are essentially classical carbonium ions. In the -structures a non-classical bond is established, not to any particular atom, but to the -electron cloud in general. It is quite likely that both types of structure are represented by actual examples. Thus m-xylene interacts more strongly with hydrogen chloride than does o-xylene, but the difference between the two hydrocarbons is much more pronounced when their interactions with a boron trifluoride-hydrogen fluoride mixture are compared. This is readily understandable... 

Boron substituents in the [l,3,2]diazaborolo[l,5- ]pyridine derivative 109 were studied. This compound was obtained via reduction of its precursor 108 with sodium amalgam (Scheme 27). The bromide attached to the boron atom was further displaced with various halide, hydride, sulfur, and carbon nucleophiles <2001JCD378>. [l,2,5]thiadiazolo[2,3- ]pyridine derivative 110 was deprotected (R = Cbz to R=H) by classical hydrogenolysis <2002AGE3866>. 

This chapter summarizes recent developments in the expanding field of electron-deficient compounds having from three up to 13 skeletal boron and carbon atoms. In particular, the focus will be on the transition of classical organoboranes into non-classical compounds. Therefore, we first want to briefly review electron counting rules and bonding characteristics of these classes. For a more thorough discussion see Chapter 1 by King and Schleyer. 

Diboracyclopropane 1A may serve as an example to illustrate the principles discussed above. With the carbon atom tetrahedrally coordinated by two hydrogen and two boron atoms its classical structure is well described by the Lewis formula in Scheme 3.2-1. Hyperconjugation between the CH bonds and the formally empty p orbitals at the boron atoms leads to only a relatively minor reorganization of electron density compared with that suggested by the Lewis formula. 

When some boron atoms in non-classical boranes are exchanged by isolobal C+ units, the multicenter bonding MOs look qualitatively the same, but the contribution of carbon hybrid orbitals is larger than those from boron atoms [compare Figures 3.2-3(b) and (c)]. This polarization is due to the higher electronegativity of carbon versus boron atoms. 

As discussed in the introduction (Section 3.2.1), derivatives of the diboracyclo-propane 1C are non-classical organoboranes having 8 SE, and according to the 2n+2 SE rule may be classified as the simplest doso-carboranes of the series CH(BH) H ( = 2). Compounds IB and 1C have been computed [5] to be 17.5 and 47.6 kcal mol-1 lower in energy, respectively, than the classical diboracyclopropane 1A. They are 2e aromatics and possess planar-tetracoordinate centers in IB this unusual geometry is found at the carbon and one boron atom, in 1C at both boron atoms (Scheme 3.2-2). 

---