TY - INPR A1 - Wang, Sunewang R. A1 - Arrowsmith, Merle A1 - Böhnke, Julian A1 - Braunschweig, Holger A1 - Dellermann, Theresa A1 - Dewhurst, Rian D. A1 - Kelch, Hauke A1 - Krummenacher, Ivo A1 - Mattock, James D. A1 - Müssig, Jonas H. A1 - Thiess, Torsten A1 - Vargas, Alfredo A1 - Zhang, Jiji T1 - Engineering a Small HOMO-LUMO Gap and Intramolecular B–B Hydroarylation by Diborene/Anthracene Orbital Intercalation T2 - Angewandte Chemie, International Edition N2 - The diborene 1 was synthesized by reduction of a mixture of 1,2-di-9-anthryl-1,2-dibromodiborane(4) (6) and trimethylphosphine with potassium graphite. The X-ray structure of 1 shows the two anthryl rings to be parallel and their π(C\(_{14}\)) systems perpendicular to the diborene π(B=B) system. This twisted conformation allows for intercalation of the relatively high-lying π(B=B) orbital and the low-lying π* orbital of the anthryl moiety with no significant conjugation, resulting in a small HOMO-LUMO gap (HLG) and ultimately an unprecedented anthryl B–B bond hydroarylation. The HLG of 1 was estimated to be 1.57 eV from the onset of the long wavelength band in its UV–vis absorption spectrum (THF, λ\(_{onset}\) = 788 nm). The oxidation of 1 with elemental selenium afforded diboraselenirane 8 in quantitative yield. By oxidative abstraction of one phosphine ligand by another equivalent of elemental selenium, the B–B and C\(^1\)–H bonds of 8 were cleaved to give the cyclic 1,9-diboraanthracene 9. KW - boron KW - small HOMO-LUMO gap KW - diborenes KW - borylation KW - hydroarylation Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-148126 N1 - This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: S. R. Wang, M. Arrowsmith, J. Böhnke, H. Braunschweig, T. Dellermann, R. D. Dewhurst, H. Kelch, I. Krummenacher, J. D. Mattock, J. H. Müssig, T. Thiess, A. Vargas, J. Zhang, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 8009., which has been published in final form at DOI: 10.1002/anie.201704063. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. VL - 56 IS - 27 ER -