Transition-Metal-Catalysed Borane Dehydrocoupling and its Mechanistic Implications

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Holger Braunschweig
• Subject Area: Inorganic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: from 2013 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 242159665

The search for more efficient processes for the preparation of useful materials is perpetual.Thereby, the design of chemical syntheses that limit waste products is a particularly vibrant field of research, and one class of reactions is near the pinnacle of the low-waste ideal: dehydrocoupling. Dehydrocoupling reactions are a way to create bonds between elements by eliminating only hydrogen gas from the mixture. Although not completely waste-free, the by-product H2 is easily removed, can be used for other purposes and is much lighter than the product molecules. Our preliminary work on applying this concept to the synthesis of dibo-ranes(4), reagents widely used in organic synthesis, led to their catalytic synthesis with high efficiency. This proposal aims to expand these results in order to widen the scope of the reaction to different substrates, to use the new reaction to prepare boron-containing polymers with interesting properties, and to investigate the mechanism of the reaction from a molecular viewpoint.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants