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Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Isolating Free Carbenes, their Mixed Dimers and Organic Radicals
Published on: April 19, 2019
Dehydrogenation reactivity of a frustrated carbene-borane Lewis pair
Dirk Holschumacher1, Christina Taouss, Thomas Bannenberg
1Institut für Anorganische und Analytische Chemie, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Hagenring 30, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany.
Abstract:
The sterically demanding carbene 1,3-di-tert-butylimidazolidin-2-ylidene and B(C(6)F(5))(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.
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