The effectiveness of amine-borane as reducing agent for the synthesis of iron nanoparticles has been investigated. Large (2-4 nm) Fe nanoparticles were obtained from [Fe{N(SiMe3)2}2]. Inclusion of boron in the nanoparticles is clearly evidenced by extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and Mössbauer spectrometry. Furthermore, the reactivity of amine-borane and amino-borane complexes in the presence of pure Fe nanoparticles has been investigated. Dihydrogen evolution was observed in both cases, which suggests the potential of Fe nanoparticles to promote the release of dihydrogen from amine-borane and amino-borane moieties.
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