Reduction of Mono- and Diboranes(4)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Holger Braunschweig
• Subject Area: Inorganic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: from 2012 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 221758282

• Final Report Year: 2015

Final Report Abstract

This project has opened a major new area of research, that of boron-boron multiple bonding. The compounds prepared already have shown promise as strong neutral reductants, ligands for transition metals and highly pi-donating groups for use in pi-conjugated materials. During this three-year project, 25 publications on the project work were published, 22 of which in first-ranking general chemistry journals. These publications have already been cited 240 times by 173 papers excluding self-citations (source: ISI Web of Science, 16.10.2015). The broad interest in this project is reflected by the extensive media coverage of the work, including highlights in The Times of London, New Scientist, Spektrum der Wissenschaft, Chemistry World, Science, Nature, Nature Chemistry, Chemie in unserer Zeit, and Nachrichten aus der Chemie. We have recently been awarded an Advanced Grant totalling 2.5 M€ from the European Research Council based on the work done during this project.

Publications

• Ambient-Temperature Isolation of a Compound with a Boron-Boron Triple Bond, Science 2012, 336, 1420–1422
  H. Braunschweig, R. D. Dewhurst, K. Hammond, J. Mies, A. Vargas, K. Radacki
  
• Base-stabilized Diborenes: Selective Generation and η2 Side-on Coordination to Ag(I), Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 9931–9934
  P. Bissinger, H. Braunschweig, A. Damme, T. Kupfer, A. Vargas
  
• Bond-strengthening π backdonation in a transition-metal π-diborene complex, Nature Chem. 2013, 5, 115- 121
  H. Braunschweig, A. Damme, R. D. Dewhurst, A. Vargas
  
• Metal-Free binding and coupling of carbon monoxide at a boron-boron triple bond, Nature Chem. 2013, 5, 1025–1028
  H. Braunschweig, T. Dellermann, R. D. Dewhurst, W. C. Ewing, K. Hammond, J. O. C. Jimenez-Halla, T. Kramer, I. Krummenacher, J. Mies, A. K. Phukan, A. Vargas
  
• Boron Radical Cations from the Facile Oxidation of Electron-Rich Diborenes, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 5689–5693
  H. Braunschweig, P. Bissinger, A. Damme, T. Kupfer, I. Krummenacher, A. Vargas
  
• Exclusive π Encapsulation of Light Alkali Metal Cations by a Neutral Molecule, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, online contents
  R. Bertermann, H. Braunschweig, P. Constantinidis, T. Dellermann, R. D. Dewhurst, W. C. Ewing, I. Fischer, T. Kramer, J. Mies, A. K. Phukan, A. Vargas