Ruthenium deposited on MCM-41 as efficient catalyst for hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane and methylamine borane

Ultrafine Ru nanoparticles are successfully deposited on MCM-41 by using a simple liquid impregnationreduction method, and further investigated for catalytic hydrolysis of ammonia borane and methylamine borane. Among all the catalysts tested, 1.12 wt% Ru/MCM-41 exhibits the highest catalytic activity, with turnover frequency value of 288 min^-1.     

Iron‐Catalyzed Dehydropolymerization: A Convenient Route to Poly(phosphinoboranes) with Molecular‐Weight Control

The catalyst loading is the key to control the molecular weight of the polymer in the iron‐catalyzed dehydropolymerization of phosphine–borane adducts. Studies showed that the reaction proceeds through a chain‐growth coordination–insertion mechanism.     

Nanostructured Ni2P as a Robust Catalyst for the Hydrolytic Dehydrogenation of Ammonia–Borane

Ammonia–borane (AB) is a promising chemical hydrogen‐storage material. However, the development of real‐time, efficient, controllable, and safe methods for hydrogen release under mild conditions is a challenge in the large‐scale use of hydrogen as a long‐term solution for future energy security. A new class of low‐cost catalytic system is presented that uses nanostructured Ni₂P as catalyst, which exhibits excellent catalytic activity and high sustainability toward hydrolysis of ammonia–borane with the initial turnover frequency of 40.4 mol_(H2) mol_(Ni2P)^?1 min^?1 under air atmosphere and at ambient temperature. This value is higher than those reported for noble‐metal‐free catalysts, and the obtained Arrhenius activation energy (E_a=44.6 kJ mol^?1) for the hydrolysis reaction is comparable to Ru‐based bimetallic catalysts. A clearly mechanistic analysis of the hydrolytic reaction of AB based on experimental results and a density functional theory calculation is presented.     

Metal‐Free Hydrosilylation Polymerization by Borane Catalyst

The first example of metal‐free hydrosilylation polymerization between dienes and disilanes is developed by using a borane catalyst, B(C₆F₅)₃ to replace precious transition‐metal‐based systems. Under the easy‐to‐handle and mild conditions, a step‐growth polymerization of two readily available diene and disilane units was achieved with high degrees of polymerization. Various combinations of dienes and disilanes produced polycarbosilanes with a broad range of structures and properties.     

Metal‐Free Ammonia–Borane Dehydrogenation Catalyzed by a Bis(borane) Lewis Acid

The storage of energy in a safe and environmentally benign way is one of the main challenges of today’s society. Ammonia–borane (AB=NH₃BH₃) has been proposed as a possible candidate for the chemical storage of hydrogen. However, the efficient release of hydrogen is still an active field of research. Herein, we present a metal‐free bis(borane) Lewis acid catalyst that promotes the evolution of up to 2.5 equivalents of H₂ per AB molecule. The catalyst can be reused multiple times without loss of activity. The moderate temperature of 60 °C allows for controlling the supply of H₂ on demand simply by heating and cooling. Mechanistic studies give preliminary insights into the kinetics and mechanism of the catalytic reaction.     

An efficient multi-component synthesis of (2-amino-3-cyano-4H-chromen-4-yl) phosphonic acid diethyl ester

(2-Amino-3-cyano-4H-chromen-4-yl) phosphonic acid diethyl esters are prepared via a single-step multi-component reaction of structurally diverse salicylaldehydes with malononitrile and triethyl phosphite using a catalytic amount of potassium phosphate in ethanol at ambient temperature. Use of potassium phosphate as an inexpensive catalyst makes the protocol more economical. Mild reaction conditions, simple work-up procedure are the added advantages of the present method.     

Ammonia borane as a metal free reductant for ketones and aldehydes: a mechanistic study

Without a catalyst ketones and aldehydes were reacted in THF with ammonia borane (AB) to proceed hydroboration forming alkyl borates. Mechanistic studies revealed that dissociation of ammonia from AB occurred before the hydroboration step. When methanol was used as the solvent, metal free methanolysis of AB would take place with the ketone/aldehyde being directly hydrogenated by the MeOH·BH₃ complex.     

Nickel-catalyzed Arbuzov reactions of aryl triflates with triethyl phosphite

An efficient method was developed for the nickel-catalyzed phosphonylation of aryl triflates with triethyl phosphite, in which KBr as an additive promoted the S_N2 catalytic step. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of nickel-catalyzed Arbuzov reactions of aryl triflates. Most of the substrates showed good reactivity under this catalytic system.     

Scalable synthesis of substituted 2,7-dimethyl-9-phenylxanthen-9-ol (DMPx-OH): useful for the preparation of crystalline 5′-O-DMPx-protected nucleosides

A convenient single-step synthesis of several 2,7-dimethyl-9-phenylxanthen-9-ol (DMPx-OH) analogs has been accomplished using a Friedel-Crafts reaction. Treatment of various DMPx-OH with unprotected 2′-O-methoxyethyl-ribonucleosides (MOE) in the presence of B(C₆F₅)_3, as a Lewis Acid catalyst, furnished 5′-O-protected derivatives of 2′-MOE-ribonucleosides in good yields. The deprotection of the DMPx groups was accomplished by acid hydrolysis under very mild conditions. Among the five DMPx analogs synthesized, the 2,7-dimethyl-9-(4-nitrophenyl)xanthene-9-yl group furnished crystalline products enabling non-chromatographic isolation of 5′-O-protetced nucleosides.