Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Isolating Free Carbenes, their Mixed Dimers and Organic Radicals
Published on: April 19, 2019
Selective one- and two-electron reductions of a haloborane enabled by a π-withdrawing carbene ligand
Dipak Kumar Roy1, Ivo Krummenacher1, Tom E Stennett1
1Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany. h.braunschweig@uni-wuerzburg.de and Institute for Sustainable Chemistry & Catalysis with Boron, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
Abstract:
A carbene-stabilised neutral boryl radical and a boryl anion are isolated via selective one- and two-electron reduction of a diamidocarbene (DAC) adduct of dibromo(pentafluorophenyl)borane. Both the radical and the anion have been characterised by various spectroscopic techniques in solution, while the structures have been ascertained by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In contrast, the reduction of the analogous cyclic (alkyl)(amino) carbene (CAAC) adduct yields a C-H activation product.
Related Concept Videos
π Electron Effects on Chemical Shift: Overview
Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...
Ligand Binding Sites
Protein-ligand interactions are quite specific; even though numerous potential ligands surround a cellular protein at any given time, only a particular ligand can bind to that protein. Moreover, a ligand binds only to a dedicated area on the surface of the protein, known as the...
π Electron Effects on Chemical Shift: Aromatic and Antiaromatic Compounds
Oxidation-Reduction Reactions
Ligand Binding and Linkage

