Addition of dihydrogen to a borylborenium center

The activation of a H-H bond, the simplest covalent bond, is a fundamentally important process. Addition of H₂ to an elemental center typically occurs on low valent transition metal or main group complexes through oxidative addition to afford metal dihydride complexes. In contrast, activation of H₂ on a high valent center generally results in heterolytic cleavage of the H-H bond to a proton and hydride. Here, we report experimental and computational evidence for the addition of H₂ to a borenium center in an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) coordinated borylborenium cation, which leads to the formation of a dihydroborenium complex accompanied by the elimination of two σ-bonded substituents, namely mesityl (Mes) and pinacolboryl (Bpin) groups, as mesitylboronic ester.