Mild routes to bulk boron nitride and molecular oxoboranes

• Applicant: Dr. Tanja Kunz
• Subject Area: Inorganic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: from 2022 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 497540932

The aim of this project is to find a mild route to bulk boron nitride and molecular oxoboranes. Boron nitride has the potential to be a key material in modern computing as a result of its outstanding electrical insulating and heat-conducting properties and its chemical and thermal inertness. The syntheses of boron nitride generally require temperatures above 1500°C, making these methods incompatible with standard device fabrication protocols. The proposed program includes a low-temperature polymer-mediated route to bulk boron nitride and is built upon a series of known transformations. Monomeric oxoboranes (RBO; R = organic group or H) are only observed in the gas phase at high temperatures. The highly reactive triple bond between boron and oxygen generally leads to cyclooligomerization at temperatures higher than 50 K. A second goal of this program is the kinetic stabilization of monomeric oxoborane by bulky N-heterocyclic olefin ligands, which were shown to be useful in the context of low coordinate main group chemistry. If a kinetically stabilized monomeric oxoborane is obtained, the oxoborane will be explored for its ability to promote C-F bond activation and eventually hydrodefluorination catalysis in the presence of silanes.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: Canada
• Host: Professor Dr. Eric Rivard