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Experimental Insights into the Structure and Reactivity of Frustrated Lewis Pairs
Author(s) -
Rocchigiani Luca
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
israel journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.908
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1869-5868
pISSN - 0021-2148
DOI - 10.1002/ijch.201400139
Subject(s) - frustrated lewis pair , chemistry , lewis acids and bases , reactivity (psychology) , intramolecular force , adduct , catalysis , stereochemistry , substrate (aquarium) , molecule , computational chemistry , organic chemistry , medicine , oceanography , alternative medicine , pathology , geology
Abstract Frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs), namely the combination of a Lewis acid (LA) and a Lewis base (LB) that cannot fulfil their natural propensity to form stable Lewis adducts, have been recently exploited to activate small molecules, such as H 2 and CO 2 , and have drawn much interest, due to their applicability in metal‐free catalytic reactions. This review focuses mainly on the experimental studies of both the structure and reactivity of FLPs providing a starting body of evidence to elucidate the mechanism of their action. Important insights coming from NMR spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction and other experimental techniques are highlighted and discussed. In particular, evidence about the tendency of LA and LB to interact in the absence of a substrate are commented on for both inter‐ and intramolecular FLPs, underlining the role played by the structure of LA and LB in determining the level of interaction. Next, the effect of the structure of FLPs on the kinetics and thermodynamics of substrate activation is illustrated, with a particular focus on catalytic hydrogenation reactions.