The Braunschweig Group


Research in the Braunschweig group covers a wide range of organometallic and main group element chemistry. Motivation for our work arises from the fundamental interest in novel molecular species, and much emphasis lies with the elucidation of their detailed electronic structure and reactivity patterns, thus disclosing potential applications in organic synthesis, catalysis, or materials science. Commonly, sophisticated synthetic protocols, as well as state-of-the-art analytical and computational methods are applied to meet these goals. Significant achievements over the past decades were made in various independent, highly topical and competitive sub-areas of (i) organometallic chemistry such as metal boron complexes (borane, boryl, borylene, boride, oxoboryl), metallo-arenophanes, or metal-only Lewis pairs, and (ii) main group element chemistry such as novel boron heterocycles (boroles, azaborinines, etc.) and boron boron multiple bonded species (diborenes, diborynes).



The homepage for our newly-established research institute - the Institute for Sustainable Chemistry & Catalysis with Boron (ICB) is now online. 

Visit the ICB homepage.



Selected Recent Publications

  • M. Arrowsmith, H. Braunschweig, M. A. Celik, T. Dellermann, R. D. Dewhurst, W. C. Ewing, K. Hammond, T. Kramer, I. Krummenacher, J. Mies, K. Radacki, J. K. Schuster
    Engineering a Small HOMO-LUMO Gap and Intramolecular B—B Hydroarylation by Diborene/Anthracene Orbital Intercalation
    Angew. Chem. 2017, 129, 8122–8126; [pdf] Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 8009–8013. [pdf]
  • B. Borthakur, H. Braunschweig, A. Deißenberger, T. Dellermann, R. D. Dewhurst, I. Krummenacher, M. Nutz, A. K. Phukan, M. Schäfer 

    Synthesis and Trapping of Iminoboranes via M=B/C=N Bond Metathesis
    Angew. Chem. 2017, 129, 8084–8089; [pdf] Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 7975–7979. [pdf]

  • H. Braunschweig, T. Dellermann, R. D. Dewhurst, B. Hupp, T. Kramer, J. Mattock, J. Mies, A. K. Phukan, A. Steffen, A. Vargas
    Strongly Phosphorescent Transition Metal π-Complexes of Boron-Boron Triple Bonds
    J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 4887–4893. [pdf]
  • H. Braunschweig, I. Krummenacher, M.-A. Légaré, A. Matler, K. Radacki, Q. Ye
    Main-Group Metallomimetics: Transition Metal-like Photolytic CO Substitution at Boron
    J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 1802–1805. [pdf]
  • H. Braunschweig, R. D. Dewhurst, W. E. Ewing, M. Schäfer
    Isolation of a Reactive Cyclopropane Intermediate via a Unique Catalyst-Free Spontaneous Cyclopropanation Step at 0 °C
    Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 5953–5956. [pdf]