Hydration reactions catalyzed by transition metal–NHC (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) complexes

Gao, Pengcheng; Szostak, Michal

doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2023.215110

Abstract An N‐heterocyclic‐carbene‐ligated 3‐benzoborepin with a bridged structure has been synthesized by double radicaltrans‐hydroboration of benzo[3,4]cycloundec‐3‐ene‐1,5‐diyne with an N‐heterocyclic carbene borane. The thermal reaction of the NHC‐ligated borepin at 150 °C gives an isolable NHC‐boranorcaradiene. Experiments and density functional theory calculations support a mechanism whereby the borepin initially rearranges to a boranorcaradiene by a thermal 6π‐electrocyclic reaction. This is followed by 1,5‐boron shift to give a rearranged boranorcaradiene. This shift occurs with stereoinversion at boron through a transition state with open‐shell diradical character. This is the first example of the isolation of a boranorcaradiene from a thermal reaction of a borepin.

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