Bypassing a highly unstable frustrated Lewis pair: dihydrogen cleavage by a thermally robust silylium-phosphine adduct

摘要

The thermally robust sitylium complex [iPr_3Si-PtBu_3]~+[B(C_6F_5)_4]~- activates H_2/D_2 at 90 ℃ (PhCl); no evidence for dissociation into the separated Lewis pair is found. DFT calculations show H_2 cleavage proceeds via Si-P bond elongation to form an encounter complex directly from the adduct, thus avoiding the non-isolable iPr_3Si~+-PtBu_3 FLP.