Bis(tetrafluorophenyl)borane

The reaction of the Grignard reagent (p-C6F4H) MgBr with Me2SnCl2 afforded the p-C6F4H transfer reagent Me2Sn(p-C6F4H)(2) (1). Subsequent reaction of 1 with BCl3 led to the chloroborane (p-C6F4H)(2)BCl (2), which was converted to the borane [(p-C6F4H)(2)BH](2) (3) by treatment with the hydride source Me2SiHCl. By reaction of tetrafluoropyridine with i-PrMgCl followed by the in situ reaction with Me2SnCl2, the stannane Me2Sn(C5F4N)(2) (4) could be obtained. However, this did not react with BCl3. The resulting products were characterized by elemental analyses and NMR spectroscopy. Single crystal X-ray diffraction experiments were performed for compounds 1, 2 and 4. The crystal structure of the literature known compound Me2Sn(C6F5)(2) (5) was determined and compared with structures of 1 and 4.