The design of larger architectures from smaller molecular building blocks by element-element coupling reactions is one of the key concerns of synthetic chemistry, so a number of strategies were developed for this bottom-up approach. A general scheme is the coupling of two elements with opposing polarity or that of two radicals. Here, we show that a B-B coupling reaction is possible between two boron analogues of the ethyl cation, resulting in the formation of an unprecedented dicationic tetraborane. The bonding properties in the rhomboid B₄ core of the product can be described as two B-B units connected by three-centre, two-electron bonds, sharing the short diagonal. Our discovery might lead the way to the long sought-after boron chain polymers with a structure similar to the silicon chains in β-SiB₃. Moreover, the reaction is a prime textbook example of the influence of multiple-centre bonding on reactivity.

The red-colored tetraborane(4) [B4 (hpp)4 ](3+.) (3; hpp=1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-2H-pyrimido[1,2-a]pyrimidinate) with a rhomboid B4 skeleton stabilized by four N donors, was synthesized by the reaction of the strong hydride abstraction reagent [(acridine)BCl2 ][AlCl4 ] with the electron-rich diborane(4) [HB(hpp)]2 (1). The salt 3[AlCl4 ]3 was structurally characterized and the presence of unpaired electrons proven by EPR measurements. The unprecedented radical tricationic 3 is distinguished by a high positive charge and boron atoms in a low oxidation state (less than two).

Diborane(4) compounds are versatile reagents in synthetic chemistry. Generally, diboranes(4) with sp-hybridized boron atoms react as electrophiles. By contrast, the chemistry of nucleophilic diborane(4) compounds with two sp-hybridized boron atoms is very much underdeveloped. In this work, we systematically vary the substituents of electron-rich diborane(4) compounds with bridging guanidinate substituents. In this way, five new diboranes are synthesized and fully characterized. Using quantum chemical computations, we show that the electronic properties and reactivity of these compounds can be rationally varied by the choice of substituents. The HOMO energies, adiabatic ionization energies and proton affinities are considered as parameters to compare the chemical properties of these unusual compounds.

Herein, we analyse the catalytic boron-boron dehydrocoupling reaction that leads from the base-stabilised diborane(6) [H2 B(hpp)]2 (hpp=1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-2H-pyrimido[1,2-a]pyrimidinate) to the base-stabilised diborane(4) [H2 B(hpp)]2 . A number of potential transition-metal precatalysts was studied, including transition-metal complexes of the product diborane(4). The synthesis and structural characterisation of two further examples of such complexes is presented. The best results for the dehydrocoupling reactions were obtained with precatalysts of Group 9 metals in the oxidation state of +I. The active catalyst is formed in situ through a multistep process that involves reduction of the precatalyst by the substrate [H2 B(hpp)]2 , and mechanistic investigations indicate that both heterogeneous and (slower) homogeneous reaction pathways play a role in the dehydrocoupling reaction. In addition, hydride abstraction from [H2 B(hpp)]2 and related diboranes is analysed and the possibility for subsequent deprotonation is discussed by probing the protic character of the cationic boron-hydrogen compounds with NMR spectroscopic analysis.

A series of allene amides was prepared and their gold-catalysed cyclisation was investigated. The formation of six-membered rings, 1,3-oxazines, was observed. Dihydropyrroles originating from intramolecular hydroamination of the distal C=C double bonds of the allenes were minor side products. Mechanistic studies by in situ (31)P NMR spectroscopy showed only one additional species during the conversion in each case; a computational study of the different allyl gold(I) species involved allowed this to be assigned as the σ-allyl gold species bearing the gold catalyst at the sterically less hindered methylene end. The regiospecific deuterodeauration of this intermediate confirmed a S(E) '-type mechanism for this last step of the catalytic cycle.