Prof. Dr. Holger Bettinger, Institut für Organische Chemie, Universität Tübingen

“Boron-Nitrogen Substitution in Organic Chemistry – From Fleeting Intermediates to Molecular Thermal Energy Storage”

The exchange of carbon atoms by boron and nitrogen atoms enlarges the conventional organic chemical space and provides access to novel compounds that differ from that of their all-carbon congeners by chemical reactivity and physical properties. Among organic reactive intermediates, the substitution of a C2 units by an isoelectronic BN unit links vinylidenes and arynes to aminoborylenes, borylnitrenes, and azaborins, respectively. Research on these BN-analogues of organic reactive intermediates has revealed their extraordinary reactivity, e.g., towards strong CH and SiF bonds, and will be summarized in the talk. The discovery of unexpected photoisomerization of BN-containing six-membered rings (BN- benzene) to their Dewar isomer (BN-Dewar) forms has opened the prospect of their utilization as molecular solar thermal (MOST) energy storage medium. The structure-property relationship in the BN- benzene–BN-dewar system is currently investigated and recent results for BN-heterocycles in the MOST area will be presented