The Lewis superacidic aluminium cation: [(NHC)Al(C 6 F 5 ) 2 ] .
Shaoying JuChi ZhangBeili TangLiu Leo LiuDouglas W StephanYile WuPublished in: Chemical communications (Cambridge, England) (2023)
The aluminium salt [(NHC)Al(tol)(C 6 F 5 ) 2 ][B(C 6 F 5 ) 4 ], (NHC = C 3 H 2 (N(iPr 2 C 6 H 3 )) 2 ) is shown to behave as a Lewis superacid as it abstracts fluoride from [SbF 6 ] - . It also acts as a Lewis acid catalyst for hydrosilyation, hydrodefluorination and Friedel-Crafts reactions.