Inorganic Chemistry, Vol.59, No.14, 9551-9559, 2020
A Base-Stabilized Silylene-Promoted C(sp(3))-H Borylation and H-2 Activation
Treatment of the amidinato amidosilylene [L-{(Me3Si)(2)N}Sid [1, L = PhC(NtBu)(2)] with a slight excess of borane-tetrahydrofuran complex [BH3 center dot THF] in toluene at room temperature afforded the silylene-borane adduct [L{(Me3Si)(2)N}-Si:(B)-> H-3] (2). A triflate substituent was introduced on the boron center by reacting 2 with methyl triflate [MeOTf] (OTf = OSO2CF3) in toluene at room temperature to form [L-{(Me3Si)(2)N}Si:-> BH2OTf] (3), with the elimination of CH4 gas. The intramolecular C(sp(3))-H borylation and H-2 elimination occurred by reacting complex 3 with 1 in refluxing toluene to form a C-B bond in the resulting silylene-boronium ion 5. Complex 5 activated H-2 gas or NH3BH3 at room temperature to form silylene-borane adduct 2 and [L{(Me3SO2N}Si-H]OTf. Additionally, the reaction of 5 with H-2 was studied through density functional theory calculations.