Taming the parent oxoborane

Despite recent advancements in the chemistry of multiply bound boron compounds, the laboratory isolation of the parent oxoborane moiety, HBO has long remained an unsolved and well-recognized challenge. The reaction of 6-SIDipp·BH(3) [6-SIDipp = 1,3-di(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)tetrahydropyrimidine-2-ylidene] with GaCl(3) afforded an unusual boron–gallium 3c–2e compound (1). The addition of water to 1 resulted in the release of H(2) and the formation of a rare acid stabilized neutral parent oxoborane, LB(H)[double bond, length as m-dash]O (2). Crystallographic and density functional theory (DFT) analyses support the presence of a terminal B[double bond, length as m-dash]O double bond. Subsequent addition of another equivalent of water molecule led to hydrolysis of the B–H bond to the B–OH bond, but the ‘B[double bond, length as m-dash]O’ moiety remained intact, resulting in the formation of the hydroxy oxoborane compound (3), which can be classified as a monomeric form of metaboric acid.