Nitro-redox reactions at a frustrated borane/phosphane Lewis pair

Abstract

The unsaturated 1,4-P/B-FLPs 6 reduced nitrobenzene to nitrosobenzene which was directly trapped by an allylboration reaction to give the seven-membered B-O-P compounds 9a and 9b. The FLP 6a reacted analogously with trans-β-nitrostyrene. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction.