Isoelectronic Arduengo-type carbene analogues with the Group IIIa elements boron, aluminum, gallium, and indium

Sundermann A, Reiher M, Schoeller W. Isoelectronic Arduengo-type carbene analogues with the Group IIIa elements boron, aluminum, gallium, and indium. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 1998;(3):305-310.While Arduengo-type carbenes are now well established for the Group IVa elements carbon, silicon and germanium, they are experimentally unknown for the isoelectronic anions with the Group IIIa elements boron, aluminum, gallium, and indium. In the present quantum chemical investigations, the bonding features of this class of compounds are explored. As a result, they are predicted to be stable species with sizeable singlet-triplet energy separations and electron affinities. Hence, they may be considered as valid targets for experimental investigations. An analysis of the electron density distribution in the case of boron and aluminum reveals a strongly polar B-N bond for the former, and a half Al-N bond with positive charge at the aluminum, emphasizing the donor-acceptor formulation for the latter