Diboriranides are the smallest conceivable
monoanionic aromatic cycles, yet only limited examples
have been reported and their reactivity and complexation behavior remain completely unexplored. We
report a straightforward synthesis of the first peraryl
diboriranide c-(DurB)2CPh as its lithium salt in three
steps via the corresponding non-classical diborirane
from a readily available 1,2-dichlorodiborane(4) (Dur=
2,3,5,6-tetramethylphenyl). With the preparation and
complete characterization of representative complexes
with tin, copper, gold and zinc, we demonstrate the
strong preference of the diboriranide for σ-type coordination modes towards main group and transition metal
centers under unperturbed retention of the threemembered B2C-ring’s 2e π-system