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1. Examining the reactivity of tris(ortho-carboranyl)borane with Lewis bases and application in frustrated Lewis pair Si–H bond cleavage

   https://doi.org/10.1039/d3dt01557b  

   Vashisth, Kanika; Dutta, Sanjay; Akram, Manjur O; Martin, Caleb D (July 2023, Dalton Transactions)

   Reactions of tris(ortho-carboranyl)borane with Lewis bases reveals only small bases bind. The tremendous bulk and Lewis acidity is leveraged in frustrated Lewis pair Si–H cleavage with a wider range of Lewis bases and greater efficacy than B(C₆F₅)₃. 

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2. Tetragonal phosphorus( v ) cations as tunable and robust catalytic Lewis acids

   https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC02463H  

   Gilhula, James C.; Radosevich, Alexander T. (July 2019, Chemical Science)

   The synthesis and catalytic reactivity of a class of water-tolerant cationic phosphorus-based Lewis acids is reported. Corrole-based phosphorus( v ) cations of the type [ArP(cor)][B(C 6 F 5 ) 4 ] (Ar = C 6 H 5 , 3,5-(CF 3 ) 2 C 6 H 3 ; cor = 5,10,15-(C 6 H 5 ) 3 corrolato 3− , 5,10,15-(C 6 F 5 ) 3 corrolato 3− ) were synthesized and characterized by NMR and X-ray diffraction. The visible electronic absorption spectra of these cationic phosphacorroles depend strongly on the coordination environment at phosphorus, and their Lewis acidities are quantified by spectrophotometric titrations. DFT analyses establish that the character of the P-acceptor orbital comprises P–N antibonding interactions in the basal plane of the phosphacorrole. Consequently, the cationic phosphacorroles display unprecedented stability to water and alcohols while remaining highly active and robust Lewis acid catalysts for carbonyl hydrosilylation, C sp3 –H bond functionalization, and carbohydrate deoxygenation reactions. 

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3. Bimetallic nickel-lutetium complexes: tuning the properties and catalytic hydrogenation activity of the Ni site by varying the Lu coordination environment

   https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC04712J  

   Ramirez, Bianca L.; Sharma, Prachi; Eisenhart, Reed J.; Gagliardi, Laura; Lu, Connie C. (March 2019, Chemical Science)

   We present three heterobimetallic complexes containing an isostructural nickel center and a lutetium ion in varying coordination environments. The bidentate iPr2PCH2NHPh and nonadentate (iPr2PCH2NHAr)3tacn ligands were used to prepare the Lu metalloligands, Lu( i Pr 2 PCH 2 NPh) 3 ( 1 ) and Lu{( i Pr 2 PCH 2 NAr) 3 tacn} ( 2 ), respectively. Reaction of Ni(COD) 2 (where COD is 1,5-cyclooctadiene) and 1 afforded NiLu( i Pr 2 PCH 2 NPh) 3 ( 3 ), with a Lu coordination number (CN) of 4 and a Ni–Lu distance, d (Ni–Lu), of 2.4644(2) Å. Complex 3 can further bind THF to form 3-THF , increasing both the Lu CN to 5 and d (Ni–Lu) to 2.5989(4) Å. On the other hand, incorporation of Ni(0) into 2 provides NiLu{( i Pr 2 PCH 2 NAr) 3 tacn} ( 4 ), in which the Lu coordination environment is more saturated (CN = 6), and the d (Ni–Lu) is substantially elongated at 2.9771(5) Å. Cyclic voltammetry of the three Ni–Lu complexes shows an overall ∼410 mV shift in the Ni(0/I) redox couple, suggesting tunability of the Ni electronics across the series. Computational studies reveal polarized bonding interactions between the Ni 3d z2 (major) and the Lu 5d z2 (minor) orbitals, where the percentage of Lu character increases in the order: 4 (6.0% Lu 5d z2 ) < 3-THF (8.5%) < 3 (9.3%). All three Ni–Lu complexes bind H 2 at low temperatures (−30 to −80 °C) and are competent catalysts for styrene hydrogenation. Complex 3 outperforms 4 with a four-fold faster rate. Additionally, adding increasing THF equivalents to 3 , which would favor build-up of 3-THF , decreases the rate. We propose that altering the coordination sphere of the Lu support can influence the resulting properties and catalytic activity of the active Ni(0) metal center. 

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4. Bridging cyanides from cyanoiron metalloligands to redox-active dinitrosyl iron units

   https://doi.org/10.1039/C8DT01761A  

   Ghosh, Pokhraj; Quiroz, Manuel; Pulukkody, Randara; Bhuvanesh, Nattamai; Darensbourg, Marcetta Y. (January 2018, Dalton Transactions)

   Cyanide, as an ambidentate ligand, plays a pivotal role in providing a simple diatomic building-block motif for controlled metal aggregation (M–CN–M′). Specifically, the inherent hard–soft nature of the cyanide ligand, i.e. , hard-nitrogen and soft-carbon centers, is due to electronic handles for binding Lewis acids following the hard–soft acid–base principle. Studies by Holm and Karlin showed structural and electronic requirements for cyanide-bridged (por)Fe III –CN–Cu II/I (por = porphyrin) molecular assemblies as biomimetics for cyanide-inhibited terminal quinol oxidases and cytochrome-C oxidase. The dinitrosyliron unit (DNIU) that exists in two redox states, {Fe(NO) 2 } 9 and {Fe(NO) 2 } 10 , draws attention as an electronic analogy of Cu II and Cu I , d 9 and d 10 , respectively. In similar controlled aggregations, L-type [(η 5 -C 5 R 5 )Fe(dppe)(CN)] (dppe = diphenyl phosphinoethane; R = H and Me) have been used as N-donor, μ-cyanoiron metalloligands to stabilize the DNIU in two redox states. Two bimetallic [(η 5 -C 5 R 5 )(dppe)Fe II –CN–{Fe(NO) 2 } 9 (sIMes)][BF 4 ] complexes, Fe-1 (R = H) and Fe*-1 (R = CH 3 ), showed dissimilar Fe II CN–{Fe(NO) 2 } 9 angular bends due to the electronic donor properties of the [(η 5 -C 5 R 5 )Fe(dppe)(CN)] μ-cyanoiron metalloligand. A trimetallic [(η 5 -C 5 Me 5 )(dppe)Fe II –CN] 2 –{Fe(NO) 2 } 10 complex, Fe*-2 , engaged two bridging μ-cyanoiron metalloligands to stabilize the {Fe(NO) 2 } 10 unit. The lability of the Fe II –CN–{Fe(NO) 2 } 9/10 bond was probed by suitable X-type (Na + SPh − ) and L-type (PMe 3 ) ligands. Treatment of Fe-1 and Fe*-1 with PMe 3 accounted for a reduction-induced substitution at the DNIU, releasing [(η 5 -C 5 R 5 )Fe(dppe)(CN)] and N-heterocyclic carbene, and generating (PMe 3 ) 2 Fe(NO) 2 as the reduced {Fe(NO) 2 } 10 product. 

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5. Understanding how Lewis acids dope organic semiconductors: a “complex” story

   https://doi.org/10.1039/d1sc01268a  

   Marqués, Pablo Simón; Londi, Giacomo; Yurash, Brett; Nguyen, Thuc-Quyen; Barlow, Stephen; Marder, Seth R.; Beljonne, David (May 2021, Chemical Science)

   null (Ed.)

   We report on computational studies of the potential of three borane Lewis acids (LAs) (B(C 6 F 5 ) 3 (BCF), BF 3 , and BBr 3 ) to form stable adducts and/or to generate positive polarons with three different semiconducting π-conjugated polymers (PFPT, PCPDTPT and PCPDTBT). Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) calculations based on range-separated hybrid (RSH) functionals provide insight into changes in the electronic structure and optical properties upon adduct formation between LAs and the two polymers containing pyridine moieties, PFPT and PCPDTPT, unravelling the complex interplay between partial hybridization, charge transfer and changes in the polymer backbone conformation. We then assess the potential of BCF to induce p-doping in PCPDTBT, which does not contain pyridine groups, by computing the energetics of various reaction mechanisms proposed in the literature. We find that reaction of BCF(OH 2 ) to form protonated PCPDTBT and [BCF(OH)] − , followed by electron transfer from a pristine to a protonated PCPDTBT chain is highly endergonic, and thus unlikely at low doping concentration. The theoretical and experimental data can, however, be reconciled if one considers the formation of [BCF(OH)BCF] − or [BCF(OH)(OH 2 )BCF] − counterions rather than [BCF(OH)] − and invokes subsequent reactions resulting in the elimination of H 2 . 

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