Electron Paramagnetic Resonance and Computational Studies of Radicals Derived from Boron-Substituted N-Heterocyclic Carbene Boranes

Fifteen second-generation NHC-ligated boranes with aryl and alkyl substituents on boron were prepared, and their radical chemistry was explored by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and calculations. Hydrogen atom abstraction from NHC–BH2Ar groups produced boryl radicals akin to diphenylmethyl with spin extensively delocalized across the NHC, BH, and aryl units. All of the NHC–B·HAr radicals studied abstracted Br-atoms from alkyl bromides. Radicals with bulky N,N′-dipp substituents underwent dimerization about 2 orders of magnitude more slowly than first-generation NHC-ligated trihydroborates. The evidence favored head-to-head coupling yielding ligated diboranes. The first ligated diboranyl radical, with a structure intermediate between that of ligated diboranes and diborenes, was spectroscopically characterized during photolysis of di-t-butyl peroxide with N,N′-di-t-butyl-imidazol-2-ylidene phenylborane. The reactive site of B-alkyl-substituted NHC–boranes switched from the boron center to the alkyl substituent for both linear and branched alkyl groups. The β-borylalkyl radicals obtained from N,N′-dipp-substituted boranes underwent exothermic β-scissions with production of dipp-Imd–BH2· radicals and alkenes. The reverse additions of NHC–boryl radicals to alkenes are probably endothermic for alkyl-substituted alkenes, but exothermic for conjugated alkenes (addition of an NHC–boryl radical to 1,1-diphenylethene was observed). A cyclopropylboryl radical was observed, but, unlike other α-cyclopropyl-substituted radicals, this showed no propensity for ring-opening.