Bespoke synthesis of unsymmetrical diaminoboranes by alkaline earth catalysisElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Full experimental details and details of the X-ray diffraction experiments. CCDC 916138. Contains the supplementary crystallographic data for this paper. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c3cc39072a

Heavier group 2 (Mg, Ca) bis(trimethylsilyl)amides are catalysts for the formation of unsymmetrical diaminoboranes, [(R 2 N)BH(NR′ 2 )], by dehydrocoupling of amine boranes and protic amines; a process which is proposed to occur by a sequential metal-centred elimination-insertion-elimination mechanism. Heavier group 2 (Mg, Ca) bis(trimethylsilyl)amides are catalysts for the formation of unsymmetrical diaminoboranes, [(R 2 N)BH(NR′ 2 )], by dehydrocoupling of amine boranes and protic amines; a process which is proposed to occur by a sequential metal-centred elimination-insertion-elimination mechanism.