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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Versatile CO2 Transformations into Complex Products: A One-pot Two-step Strategy
Published on: November 9, 2019
Tandem frustrated Lewis pair/tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane-catalyzed deoxygenative hydrosilylation of carbon dioxide
Andreas Berkefeld1, Warren E Piers, Masood Parvez
1Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4.
Abstract:
The frustrated Lewis pair system consisting of 2 equiv of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine (TMP) and tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane [B(C(6)F(5))(3)] activates carbon dioxide to form a boratocarbamate-TMPH ion pair. In the presence of triethylsilane, this species is converted to a silyl carbamate and the known ion pair [TMPH](+)[HB(C(6)F(5))(3)](-), which recently was shown to react with CO(2) via transfer of the hydride from the hydridoborate to form the formatoborate [TMPH](+)[HC(O)OB(C(6)F(5))(3)](-). In the presence of extra B(C(6)F(5))(3) (0.1-1.0 equiv) and excess triethylsilane, the formatoborate is rapidly hydrosilated to form a formatosilane and regenerate [TMPH](+)[HB(C(6)F(5))(3)](-). The formatosilane in turn is rapidly hydrosilated by the B(C(6)F(5))(3)/Et(3)SiH system to CH(4), with (Et(3)Si)(2)O as the byproduct. At low [Et(3)SiH], intermediate CO(2) reduction products are observed; addition of more CO(2)/Et(3)SiH results in resumed hydrosilylation, indicating that this is a robust, living tandem catalytic system for the deoxygenative reduction of CO(2) to CH(4).
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