Author: Virve A. Karttunen

0000000001298935

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Virve A. Karttunen

Metal-free polymerization of phenylsilane: tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane-catalyzed synthesis of branched polysilanes at elevated temperatures.

The strong organoborane Lewis acid B(C6F5)3 catalyzes the polymerization of phenylsilane at elevated temperatures forming benzene and SiH4 as side-products. The resulting polymer is a branched polysilane with an irregular substitution pattern, as revealed by 2D NMR spectroscopy. Having explored the mechanism of this novel metal-free polymerization by computational chemistry methods at the DFT level, we have suggested that unusual cationic active species, namely monomer-stabilized silyl cations, propagate the polymerization. Hydride abstraction of SiH3 moiety by the catalyst in the initiation step was found to be kinetically preferred by around 9 kcal mol(-1) over activation by coordination …

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Mechanistic Studies on the Metal-Free Activation of Dihydrogen by Antiaromatic Pentarylboroles

The perfluoro- and perprotiopentaphenylboroles 1 and 2 react with dihydrogen to effect H-H bond cleavage and formation of boracyclopentene products. The mechanism of this reaction has been studied experimentally through evaluation of the kinetic properties of the slower reaction between 2 and H(2). The reaction is first-order in both [borole] and [H(2)] with activation parameters of ΔH(‡) = 34(8) kJ/mol and ΔS(‡) = -146(25) J mol(-1) K(-1). A minimal kinetic isotope effect of 1.10(5) was observed, suggesting an asynchronous geometry for H-H cleavage in the rate-limiting transition state. To explain the stereochemistry of the observed products, a ring-opening/ring-closing mechanism is propos…

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Hydrogen activation with perfluorinated organoboranes: 1,2,3-tris(pentafluorophenyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrafluoro-1-boraindene

The perfluorinated boraindene was synthesized and fully characterized. Both computational and crystallographic data show that is antiaromatic. Compound was shown to react reversibly with H2 and to catalyse the hydrogenation of cyclohexene. The mechanism of catalysis was probed experimentally and computationally.

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