A collaboration between Kent, UFMG, and Würzburg leads to a one-step synthesis of aromatic borirenes, featured as the Outside Back Cover of Angewandte Chemie.
A recent study co-led by Felipe Fantuzzi (University of Kent), Eufrânio da Silva Júnior (UFMG, Brazil), and Holger Braunschweig (JMU Würzburg, Germany) has been selected as the Outside Back Cover of Angewandte Chemie. The publication reports a straightforward, one-step synthesis of unsymmetrical perarylated borirenes via the reaction of antiaromatic boroles with 1,4-diarylbuta-1,3-diynes.
This collaborative effort combines synthetic, crystallographic, and computational techniques to uncover a mechanistically rich transformation, featuring key intermediates such as boranorbornadiene and 7-borabicyclo[4.1.0]heptadiene. The dynamic equilibrium among these species ultimately yields three-membered boron-containing aromatic rings, highlighting new strategies for constructing strained main-group heterocycles.
The cover artwork, designed by Danilo Londoño, metaphorically represents a borirene ring rising above a sky of borole precursors, capturing the novelty and elegance of the transformation. This work exemplifies the strength of SISC’s international collaborations and contributions to the development of new main-group architectures.
Read the article here.