New outcomes of Lewis base addition to diboranes(4): electronic effects override strong steric disincentives

Abstract

Two surprising new outcomes of the reaction of Lewis bases with dihalodiboranes(4) are presented, including sp²–sp³ diboranes in which the Lewis base unit is bound to a highly sterically congested boron atom, and a rearranged double base adduct. The results provide a fuller understanding of the reactivity of diboranes, a poorly-understood class of molecule of critical importance to synthetic organic chemistry.