Dr. Eduard Matito

Tetrahalodiboranes are enigmatic compounds, which are used for the doping of silicon with B+ ions for semiconductor device fabrication. Despite their lability and immense reactivity potential, the relative absence of tetrahalodiboranes is due to their difficult preparation, involving gas-phase synthetic steps. Recently, the first transition-metal complex of a diboranyl dianion has been prepared and characterized by the group of Prof. Braunschweig. 

Our joint computational analysis with Prof. Óscar Jimenez-Halla suggests the presence of two multicenter PtB2 3c-2e bonds, similar to the two B3 3c- 2e bonds seen in Himmel’s rhomboidal B4 compound and the B2I4 unit can be seen as an olefin analogue. The compound represents the first example of intact coordination of B2X4 (X = halide) unit of any type to a metal center. These results provide a glimpse of the potentially exciting coordination chemistry of tetrahalodiboranes, about which very little is currently known.

The full work has been published in Angew. Chemie Int. Ed.