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Flexible ambiphilic ligand scaffolds have garnered attention in catalysis due to their ability to adopt multiple binding orientations. Recently, several platinum group metal complexes featuring the flexible, ambiphilic b-phosphinoethylborane ligand were reported in the literature; however, the impact of primary coordination sphere ligands and solvent on the properties of the Lewis acidic borane moiety remain underexplored. Rhodium and iridium complexes ligated by 9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonanyl-based b- diphenylphosphinoethylborane were studied using a combination of crystallography and 11B NMR spectroscopy. The studies revealed that both the primary coordination sphere and solvent had an impact on the formation of Lewis acid–base adducts. Specifically, inner-sphere Lewis pair formation was dependent on the nature of the X-type ligand bound to the metal center. Similar dependencies were identified with solvents in which Lewis acid interaction was found to correlate with solvent donor number.