1. Observation of Spontaneous C=C Bond Breaking in the Reaction between Atomic Boron and Ethylene in Solid Neon
- Author
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Mohua Chen, Mingfei Zhou, Hailu Lin, Jiwen Jian, and Mingbiao Luo
- Subjects
Exothermic reaction ,Ethylene ,010405 organic chemistry ,Annealing (metallurgy) ,Matrix isolation ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Infrared spectroscopy ,Nanotechnology ,General Medicine ,General Chemistry ,010402 general chemistry ,Photochemistry ,01 natural sciences ,Catalysis ,0104 chemical sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Neon ,chemistry ,Insertion reaction ,Boron - Abstract
A ground-state boron atom inserts into the C=C bond of ethylene to spontaneously form the allene-like compound H2 CBCH2 on annealing in solid neon. This compound can further isomerize to the propyne-like HCBCH3 isomer under UV light excitation. The observation of this unique spontaneous C=C bond insertion reaction is consistent with theoretical predictions that the reaction is thermodynamically exothermic and kinetically facile. This work demonstrates that the stronger C=C bond, rather than the less inert C-H bond, can be broken to form organoboron species from the reaction of a boron atom with ethylene even at cryogenic temperatures.
- Published
- 2016
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