A (mu-hydrido)diborane(4) anion and its coordination chemistry with coinage metals

A tetra(o-tolyl) (mu-hydrido)diborane(4) anion 1, an analogue of [B2H5](-) species, was facilely prepared through the reaction of tetra(o-tolyl)diborane(4) with sodium hydride. Unlike common sp(2)-sp(3) diborane species, 1 exhibited a sigma-B-B bond nucleophilicity towards NHC-coordinated transition-metal (Cu, Ag, and Au) halides, resulting in the formation of eta(2)-B-B bonded complexes 2 as confirmed by single-crystal X-ray analyses. Compared with 1, the structural data of 2 imply significant elongations of B-B bonds, following the order Au > Cu > Ag. DFT studies show that the diboron ligand interacts with the coinage metal through a three-center-two-electron B-M-B bonding mode. The fact that the B-B bond of the gold complex is much prolonged than the related Cu and Ag compounds might be ascribed to the superior electrophilicity of the gold atom.