Replacing C6F5 groups with Cl and H atoms in frustrated Lewis pairs: H2 additions and catalytic hydrogenations.

2-(Dialkylamino)phenylboranes containing the BXZ group, where X, Z = C6F5, Cl, and H, were prepared in a few synthetic steps and demonstrated the cleavage of H2 under mild conditions. Depending on the nature of the dialkylamino group, X, and Z, the stability of the produced zwitterionic H2 adducts varies from isolated solids indefinitely stable in an inert atmosphere to those quickly equilibrating with the initial aminoborane and H2. Using a combined experimental/computational approach on a series of isostructural aminoboranes (dialkylamino = 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperid-1-yl), it was demonstrated that the electronegativity and the steric effect of the substituents generally follow the trend C6F5 ∼ Cl ≫ H. This observation is useful for designing new FLPs for practical applications. As an example, we demonstrated the hydrogenation of alkynes to cis-alkenes under mild conditions that was catalyzed by a chloro-analogue of the C6F5-substituted aminoborane developed previously. The presence of a BHCl group in the aminochloroboranes or in their H2 adducts features facile redistribution of the H and Cl atoms and the formation of polychloro and polyhydrido species.

Impact of heterocirculene molecular symmetry upon two-dimensional crystallization.

Despite the development of crystal engineering, it remains a great challenge to predict the crystal structure even for the simplest molecules, and a clear link between molecular and crystal symmetry is missing in general. Here we demonstrate that the two-dimensional (2D) crystallization of heterocirculenes on a Au(111) surface is greatly affected by the molecular symmetry. By means of ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy, we observe a variety of 2D crystalline structures in the coverage range from submonolayer to monolayer for D(8h)-symmetric sulflower (C16S8), whereas D(4h)-symmetric selenosulflower (C16S4Se4) forms square and rectangular lattices at submonolayer and monolayer coverages, respectively. No long-range ordered structure is observed for C(1h)-symmetric selenosulflower (C16S5Se3) self-assembling at submonolayer coverage. Such different self-assembly behaviors for the heterocirculenes with reduced molecular symmetries derive from the tendency toward close packing and the molecular symmetry retention in 2D crystallization due to van der Waals interactions.