Selective dehydrogenation of ammonia borane to polycondensated BN rings catalysed by ruthenium olefin complexes

Dehydrogenation of ammonia borane to well-defined products is an important but challenging reaction. A dinuclear ruthenium complex with a Ru-Ru bond bearing a diazadiene (dad) unit and olefins as non-innocent ligands catalyzes the highly selective formation of conjugated polycondensed borazine oligomers (BxNxHy), predominantly B21N21H18, the BN analogue of superbenzene. Ammonia borane dehydrogenation is catalysed by a ruthenium bimetallic catalyst forming BN-superbenzene. The focus in this work on the BN-products rather than the hydrogen evolution aims for the potential use of BN nanosheets.