CAAC-stabilised 9,10-diboraanthracene: an electronically and structurally flexible platform for small-molecule activation and metal complexation

Abstract

A biradical cyclic alkyl(amino)carbene-stabilised 9,10-diboraanthracene (DBA) activates small molecules such as hydrogen, phenyl azide or TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-oxyl) across its two boron atoms, while reactions with [(MeCN)₃M(CO)₃] (M = Cr, Mo, W) yield the first half-sandwich DBA complexes of the form [(η⁶-DBA)M(CO)₃].