Chonghe Zhang, Xiaocui Liu, Junyi Wang, Qing Ye

• Herein, we report the facile synthesis of a three-dimensional (3D) inorganic analogue of 9,10-diazido-9,10-dihydrodiboraantracene, which turned out to be a monomer in both the solid and solution state, and thermally stable up to 230 °C, representing a rare example of azido borane with boosted Lewis acidity and stability in one. Apart from the classical acid-base and Staudinger reactions, E−H bond activation (E=B, Si, Ge) was investigated. While the reaction with B−H (9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane) led directly to the 1,1-addition on N\(_{α}\) uponHerein, we report the facile synthesis of a three-dimensional (3D) inorganic analogue of 9,10-diazido-9,10-dihydrodiboraantracene, which turned out to be a monomer in both the solid and solution state, and thermally stable up to 230 °C, representing a rare example of azido borane with boosted Lewis acidity and stability in one. Apart from the classical acid-base and Staudinger reactions, E−H bond activation (E=B, Si, Ge) was investigated. While the reaction with B−H (9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane) led directly to the 1,1-addition on N\(_{α}\) upon N\(_{2}\) elimination, the Si−H (Et\(_{3}\)SiH, PhMe\(_{2}\)SiH) activation proceeded stepwise via 1,2-addition, with the key intermediates 5\(_{int}\) and 6\(_{int}\) being isolated and characterized. In contrast, the cooperative Ge−H was reversible and stayed at the 1,2-addition step.…