Dehydrogenation reactivity of a frustrated carbene–borane Lewis pair

Abstract

The sterically demanding carbene 1,3-di-tert-butylimidazolidin-2-ylidene and B(C6F5)3 form a “frustrated” Lewis pair (FLP), which is able to cleave dihydrogen heterolytically. In the absence of reactants, this FLP system exhibits dehydrogenation reactivity to give a mixture of an imidazolidinium borate and an abnormal carbene–borane adduct.