Syntheses, Structures, and Coordination of Diborylbipyridines and Bipyridinediborates

Abstract

6,6′-Bis(diethylboryl)-2,2′-bipyridine (1a) was obtained in low yield by in situ deprotonation of 2,2′-bipyridine in the presence of diethyl(methoxy)borane. 6,6′-Dilithio-2,2′-bipyridine reacts with various alkoxyboranes leading to bipyridinediborates 2 in good yields. The derivatives 2b and 2c allow the formation of the free diborylbipyridines 1b and 1c. The coordination properties of the diboryl–bipyridines as tetrafunctional donor–acceptor compounds have been used for the formation of the copper complex 4 and of the adduct 5 which is built from diborylbipyridine and a dihydroxydiboroxan derivative. The composition of the products follows from spectroscopic data and from X-ray structure analyses for 2f, 4, and 5.