Room temperature ring expansion of N-heterocyclic carbenes and B-B bond cleavage of diboron(4) compounds.

We report the isolation and detailed structural characterization, by solid-state and solution NMR spectroscopy, of the neutral mono- and bis-NHC adducts of bis(catecholato)diboron (B2 cat2 ). The bis-NHC adduct undergoes thermally induced rearrangement, forming a six-membered -B-C=N-C=C-N-heterocyclic ring via C-N bond cleavage and ring expansion of the NHC, whereas the mono-NHC adduct is stable. Bis(neopentylglycolato)diboron (B2 neop2 ) is much more reactive than B2 cat2 giving a ring expanded product at room temperature, demonstrating that ring expansion of NHCs can be a very facile process with significant implications for their use in catalysis.