A family of N-heterocyclic carbene-stabilized borenium ions for metal-free imine hydrogenation catalysis.

A family of N-heterocyclic carbene-stabilized borenium ions for metal-free imine hydrogenation catalysis† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Synthetic and spectral details are deposited. CCDC 1035566–1035574. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c4sc03675a

Metal-Free Dihydrogen Oxidation by a Borenium Cation: A Combined Electrochemical/Frustrated Lewis Pair Approach**

In order to use H2 as a clean source of electricity, prohibitively rare and expensive precious metal electrocatalysts, such as Pt, are often used to overcome the large oxidative voltage required to convert H2 into 2 H(+) and 2 e(-). Herein, we report a metal-free approach to catalyze the oxidation of H2 by combining the ability of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) to heterolytically cleave H2 with ...

Transfer hydrogenation of unfunctionalised alkenes using N-heterocyclic carbene ruthenium catalyst precursors.

Transfer hydrogenation of unfunctionalised and aliphatic alkenes in iPrOH/KOH is efficiently catalysed by an olefin-tethered N-heterocyclic carbene ruthenium complex, which also catalyses double bond migration as a competitive and considerably faster process.

Dihaloborenium cations stabilized by a four-membered N-heterocyclic carbene: electron deficiency compensation by asymmetric structural changes.

The synthesis, characterization and X-ray analysis of dichloro- and dibromo-borenium cations stabilized by a 4-membered carbene are reported. The ligand's structural changes, atypical for similar systems, were caused by coordination to electron deficient fragments and its CN2P ring strain.

Formation of N-heterocyclic, donor-stabilized borenium ions.

Cationic and zwitterionic boryl bromide species and a borenium-boryl bromide cation have been synthesised which represent new N-donor stabilised cationic boron compounds with β-diketiminate ligands. The unexpected borenium-boryl bromide results from a head-to-tail dimerisation of the corresponding zwitterionic boryl bromide accompanied by proton migration. The electronic nature of these new spe...