Reactivity of Diphenylberyllium as a Brønsted Base and Its Synthetic Application
Lewis R. Thomas‐Hargreaves, Chantsalmaa Berthold, William Augustinov, Matthias Müller, Sergei I. Ivlev, Magnus R. Buchner
Abstract
Abstract Diphenylberyllium [Be 3 Ph 6 ] is shown here to react cleanly as a Brønsted base with a vast variety of protic compounds. Through the addition of the simple molecules t BuOH, HNPh 2 and HPPh 2 , 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 [Be 3 (O t Bu) 6 ] and [Be(μ‐NPh 2 )Ph] 2 have finally been verified and shown to be static in solution. Additionally [Be(μ‐PPh 2 )(HPPh 2 )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.