Reactivity of Diphenylberyllium as a Brønsted Base and Its Synthetic Application.

Thomas‐Hargreaves, Lewis R.; Berthold, Chantsalmaa; Augustinov, William; Müller, Matthias; Ivlev, Sergei I.; Buchner, Magnus R.

Diphenylberyllium [Be3Ph6] is shown here to react cleanly as a Brønsted base with a vast variety of protic compounds. Through the addition of the simple molecules tBuOH, HNPh2 and HPPh2, as well as the more complex 1,3‐bis‐(2,6‐diisopropylphenyl)imidazolinium chloride, one or two phenyl groups in diphenylberyllium were protonated. As a result, the long‐postulated structures of [Be3(OtBu)6] and [Be(μ‐NPh2)Ph]2 have finally been verified and shown to be static in solution. Additionally [Be(μ‐PPh2)(HPPh2)Ph]2 was generated, which is only the second beryllium‐phospanide to be prepared; the stark differences between its behaviour and that of the analogous amide were also examined. The first crystalline example of a beryllium Grignard reagent with a non‐bulky aryl group has also been prepared; it is stabilised with an N‐heterocyclic carbene.

ARYL group; PHENYL group; GRIGNARD reagents

Chemistry - A European Journal, 2022, Vol 28, Issue 35, p1

0947-6539

Academic Journal

10.1002/chem.202200851