Electrochemical instability of highly fluorinated tetraphenyl borates and syntheses of their respective biphenyls

Highly fluorinated tetraphenyl borate anions are of importance as weakly coordinating anions in metalorganic reactions. However, at high positive potentials their electrochemical stability in organic solvents is not sufficient. This was investigated by a comprehensive cyclic voltammetry study and can be used synthetically to generate highly fluorinated biphenyls.