A new six-membered cyclic frustrated phosphane/borane Lewis pair was liberated from its HB(C6 F5 )2 adduct by treatment with vinylcyclohexane. The system is an active frustrated Lewis pair that undergoes cycloaddition reactions with suitable π reagents and it splits dihydrogen. At room temperature in solution the new compound is a monomer, however, in the crystal and in solution at low temperature it aggregates to a thermodynamically favoured supramolecular macrocyclic cyclooctamer.
Keywords: boranes; frustrated Lewis pairs; macrocycles; phosphanes; self-assembly.
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