Reactivity of Diphenylberyllium as a Bronsted Base and Its Synthetic Application

Diphenylberyllium [Be3Ph6] is shown here to react cleanly as a Bronsted base with a vast variety of protic compounds. Through the addition of the simple molecules tBuOH, HNPh2 and HPPh2, as well as the more complex 1,3-bis-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolinium chloride, one or two phenyl groups in diphenylberyllium were protonated. As a result, the long-postulated structures of [Be-3(OtBu)(6)] and [Be(mu-NPh2)Ph](2) have finally been verified and shown to be static in solution. Additionally [Be(mu-PPh2)(HPPh2)Ph](2) was generated, which is only the second beryllium-phospanide to be prepared; the stark differences between its behaviour and that of the analogous amide were also examined. The first crystalline example of a beryllium Grignard reagent with a non-bulky aryl group has also been prepared; it is stabilised with an N-heterocyclic carbene.

Automated summary

In this study, diphenylberyllium is found to react cleanly with various protic compounds. The long-postulated structures of beryllium compounds have been verified and their behavior differences have been examined. Additionally, a beryllium Grignard reagent with a non-bulky aryl group has been prepared.