Stabilizers boranes

The BH3 molecule is not stable as a separate entity. This molecule can be stabilized by combining it with another molecule that can donate a pair of electrons (indicated as ) to the boron atom to complete the octet (see Chapter 9). For example, the reaction between pyridine and B2H6 produces C5H5N BH3. Another stable adduct is carbonyl borane, OC BH3 in which a pair of electrons is donated from carbon monoxide, which stabilizes borane. In CO, the carbon atom has a negative formal charge, so it is the "electron-rich" end of the molecule. Because the stable compound is B2H6 rather than BH3, the bonding in that molecule should be explained. 

Complexes with Electrophiles An ether s nonbonding electrons also stabilize borane, BH3. Pure borane exists as a dimer called diborane, B2H6. Diborane is a toxic, flammable, and explosive gas, whose use is both dangerous and inconvenient. Borane forms a stable complex with tetrahydrofuran. The BH3 THF complex is commercially available as a 1 M solution, easily measured and transferred like any other air-sensitive liquid reagent. The availability of BH3 THF has contributed greatly to the convenience of hydroboration (Section 8-7). 

Complexes with Electrophiles An ether s nonbonding electrons also stabilize borane, BH3. Pure borane exists as a dimer called diborane, B2H6. Diborane is a toxic, flammable, and explosive gas, whose use is both dangerous and inconvenient. Borane... 

Primary dialkylboranes react readily with most alkenes at ambient temperatures and dihydroborate terminal acetylenes. However, these unhindered dialkylboranes exist in equiUbtium with mono- and ttialkylboranes and cannot be prepared in a state of high purity by the reaction of two equivalents of an alkene with borane (35—38). Nevertheless, such mixtures can be used for hydroboration if the products are acceptable for further transformations or can be separated (90). When pure primary dialkylboranes are required they are best prepared by the reduction of dialkylhalogenoboranes with metal hydrides (91—93). To avoid redistribution they must be used immediately or be stabilized as amine complexes or converted into dialkylborohydtides. 

Properties and Reactions. Amine boranes are usually colodess, crystalline compounds, which exhibit sharp melting points and thermal stability when pure. Primary and secondary amine boranes are generally soHds at ambient temperatures. With the exception of trimetbylamine borane, the ahphatic /-amine boranes are Hquids. The nature of the bonding in amine boranes has been the subject of theoretical investigations (21—23). 

Another important concept is the notion of stabilization by means of coordination, A classic example is the. stabilization of the fugitive species cyclobutadiene, C4H4I by coordination to (Fe(CO)3l (p. 936). As the C atom is isoclectronic with (BH], so (C4H4] is isoelectronic with the borane fragment (BaH which is similarly stabilized by coordination to (Fe(CO)3l or the isoelectronic (Cofr/ -CsHs)) (see Panel on p. 174), Indeed it is a general feature of metallaboranc chemistry that such clusters are often much more stable than are the parent boranes themselves. 

Cyclobutadiene complexes afford a classic example of the stabilization of a ligand by coordination lo a metal and, indeed, were predicted theoretically on this basis by H. C. Longuei-Higgins and L, E, Orgel (1956) some 3y before the first examples were synthesized, In the (hypothetical) free cyclobutadiene molecule 2 of the 4 rr-electrons would occupy t /i and there would be an unpaired electron m each of the 2 degenerate oibilals 2, Coordination to a metal provides funhei interactions and avoids this unstable configuration, See also the discussion on ferra-boranes (p. 174). 

Allyllithium reagents have also been used in the synthesis of (Z)-y-alkoxyallylboronates 23 2 5. Stereoselectivity is excellent in these reactions since the (Z)-y-alkoxyallyl carbanions prepared by metalation of allyl ethers are stabilized by chelation. The (Z)-y-alkoxyallyl(diisopinocam-pheyl)boranes are prepared at low temperature by an analogous procedure and must be used at — 78 "C otherwise reaction diaslereoselectivity suffers owing to the facile isomerization to the -isomer26. 

The tartrate ester modified allylboronates, the diisopropyl 2-allyl-l,3,2-dioxaborolane-4,5-di-carboxylates, are attractive reagents for organic synthesis owing to their ease of preparation and stability to storage71. In the best cases these reagents are about as enantioselective as the allyl(diisopinocampheyl)boranes (82-88% ee with unhindered aliphatic aldehydes), but with hindered aliphatic, aromatic, a,/l-unsaturated and many a- and /5-alkoxy-substituted aldehydes the enantioselectivity falls to 55-75% ee71a-b... 

The empty p orbital in borane can be somewhat stabilized if we use a solvent (like THF) that can donate electron density into the empty p orbital of boron ... 

This solvent is called tetrahydrofuran, or THF for short. Even though it somewhat stabilizes the empty p orbital on the boron atom in BH3, nevertheless the boron atom is very eager to look for any other sources of electron density that it can find. It is an electrophile—it is scavenging for sites of high electron density to fill its empty orbital. A pi bond is a site of high electron density, and therefore, a pi bond can attack borane. In fact, this is the hrst step of our mechanism. A pi bond attacks the empty p orbital of boron, which triggers a simultaneous hydride shift ... 

Any residual doubt about the actual 7r-stabilization of such carbanions, that is, the question concerning the importance of resonance structure 52a, has been decisively banished by an XRD analysis of the lithium bis(12-crown-4) salt of dimesityl(methyl)borane (54).56 Noteworthy are the slightly elongated mesityl C—B bonds at 1.617 A (over those in Mes2BMe at 1.586 A) and the pronouncedly shorter methylene C—B bond at 1.444 A. Moreover, the C2BCH2 core atoms lie essentially in a plane. All these data support the view of 54 as a borataethene, just as structure 52a would imply. 

The discovery of polyhedral boranes and polyhedral heteroboranes, which contain at least one atom other than in the cage, initiated a new era in boron chemistry.1-4 Most commonly, of the three commercially available isomeric dicarba-closo-dodecaborane carboranes(l,2-, 1,7-, and 1,12-), the 1,2-isomer 1 has been used for functionalization and connection to organic molecules. The highly delocalized three-dimensional cage bonding that characterizes these carboranes provides extensive thermal and kinetic stabilization as well as photochemical stability in the ultraviolet and visible regions. The unusual icosahedral geometry of these species provides precise directional control of all exopolyhedral bonds. 

Further studies by this group centered on comparisons of the overoxidation resistance limit (ORL) of polypyrrole materials doped with monoanionic borane clusters [B12H11NH3] or dianionic borane [B12H12]2 or carborane [Co(C2B9Hu)2]2-clusters. The monoanionic boron clusters were found to offer the highest stability to the PPy doped materials against overoxidation than any other charged dopant. They were also found to be far superior to the dianionic clusters in their ability to impart an ORL rise.140... 

A comparison of the structures of products and initial 1,3,5-diazapho-sphorinane reactants reveals a correlation between the number of added borane molecules and the predominant conformation of the initial compounds. l,3-Dibenzyl-5-phenyl-l,3,5-diazaphosphorinane (45) adopts a chair conformation. The substituents at the phosphorus atom and at one of the nitrogen atoms are equatorial, and another nitrogen possesses an axial substituent. In other 1,3,5-diazaphosphorinanes, all the substituents are equatorial. The number of borane molecules added is likely to be determined by the same factors as their conformational stability. There is steric hindrance when the three BH3 groups are axial. 

The formation of a strong intramolecular dative P—B bond in the hydro-borylation reaction of diallylphenylphosphine with triethylaminophenyl-borane results in a bicyclic product, l-borata-5-phosphoniabi-cyclo[3,3,0]octane (204) [Eq. (145)] (64JA5045). The presence of the dative bond in this compound is indicated by an NMR study and by its stability to hydrolysis and oxidation. 

This, together with the Ir-H terminal bond indicates that the compound can be regarded as a further example of the growing number of compounds in which the high oxidation state Ir(v) is stabilized by coordination to a soft polyhedral borane ligand... 

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