The concept of nonmetallic frustrated cations has been used in small molecule activation. The in situ generated ambiphilic phosphinoborinium cation activated phenyl isocyanate, diisopropylcarbodiimide, and acetonitrile under very mild conditions without any catalyst, yielding single-, double-, or mixed-activation products. Furthermore, the mechanisms of the reactions of the phosphinoborinium cation with small molecules were elucidated...

The monomeric diaminophosphinoboranes readily react with CO2 under mild conditions to cleanly form products of the general formula R2P-C(=O)-O-B(NR2)2 in the absence of a catalyst. The isolated products from the CO2-phosphinoboration were fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The mechanism of CO2 phosphinoboration with diaminophosphinoboranes was elucidated by DFT calculations.

We present the comprehensive study of diphosphanes with diversified substituents regarding their syntheses, structures, and properties. To this end, we have synthesized a series of novel unsymmetrical alkyl, aryl and amino-substituted diphosphanes of the general formula R1R2P-PR3R4 (where R1, R2, R3, R4 = tBu, Ph, Et2N or iPr2N) via salt metathesis reactionof halophosphanes with metal phosphides in high yield. We vastly expanded...