Doubly hydrogen-bridged 1,2-diphenylenediboranes derived from 9-chloro-9-borafluorene and ligand exchange reactions

Cyclic 1,2-diphenylenediboranes containing a doubly hydrogen-bridged structure, including 1,2-(2,2′biphenylylene)diborane(I) and 1,2-(2,2′biphenylylene)-1,2-diethyldiborane (II), are conveniently prepared by treating 9-chloro-9-borafluorene with NaBH4 and Na(Et)3BH, respectively. The reaction mechanism involves an initial Cl–H exchange to form 9-borafluorene containing a reactive 5-member ring diarylborane moiety, which subsequently engages in a facile ring expansion with the in situ formed B–H containing residue (BH3 or HBEt2) to result in cyclic 1,2-diphenylenediboranes compounds. The doubly hydrogen-bridged structure shows good thermal stability up to 50 °C. Upon thermal cleavage at higher temperature, all free B–H groups become very reactive involving hydroboration with α-olefin. The complexization study also reveals that this intradiborane moiety forms a 1:2 complex with a strong base, such as pyridine.