Competition for Hydride Between Silicon and Boron: Synthesis and Characterization of a Hydroborane-Stabilized Silylium Ion.

Potent main-group Lewis acids are capable of activating element-hydrogen bonds. To probe the rivalry for hydride between silylium- and borenium-ion centers, a neutral precursor with the hydrosilane and hydroborane units in close proximity on a naphthalene-1,8-diyl platform was designed. Abstraction of one hydride leads to a hydroborane-stabilized silylium ion rather than a hydrosilane-coordinated borenium ion paired with [B(C 6 F 5 ) 4 ] - or [HCB 11 Cl 11 ] - as counteranions. Characterization by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction supported by DFT calculations reveals a cationic, unsymmetrical open three-center, two-electron (3c2e) Si-H-B linkage.