Chemistry

Heavy dipnictogen chemistry: researchers create heterocycles with multiple antimony atoms

Credit: Journal of the American Chemical Society (2025). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c15626

An international team of chemists has successfully created methylenedistibirane, a three-membered ring with two antimony atoms and one carbon atom. In a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the group describes how they were able to create the rings using just a three-step process.

Methylenedistibilane is commonly used as an intermediate due to its ability to promote selective nucleophilic substitution and generate diantimonyl anions. Chemists wanted to be able to create them because natural elements are difficult to use due to overlapping orbitals. The team’s work is notable because creating similar rings using heavier pnictogenic elements such as antimony and bismuth has proven difficult due to their tendency to overlap and energy changes.

To create the three-membered ring, the research team first synthesized diazadistiboilidene using a (3+2) cycloaddition between distibenes and diazoolefins. Diazadistiboilidene is a five-membered ring containing antimony, nitrogen, and two carbon atoms. The resulting stiboylidene served as an intermediary to facilitate the displacement of the species by the bond formed during electron pair donation. The researchers note that they were surprised that the reaction worked so well because there are few examples of small ring formation with multiple antimony atoms.

The researchers then triggered a reaction between methyllithium and diazadistivoylidene, resulting in the formation of a negatively charged ion of Sb-Sb. The researchers describe this as a rare example of a diantimonyl anion. We then used X-ray crystallography to crystallize and characterize the anion. Subsequently, when the obtained diazadistiboilidene was irradiated with visible light, a three-membered ring methylenedistibilane was generated.

The researchers note that once formed, methylenedistibiran is stable, which they describe as extraordinary. They also note that one of them was found to react with carbon dioxide to form a five-membered ring containing antimony, carbon, and two oxygen atoms.

They suggest that their work could be a preparation for the development of heavy dipnictogen chemistry, and that this work is important because when diazoolefins are exposed to light, they produce previously heavy heterocycles. The study states that the results show that it can be used for various purposes, and that it also functions as a means to promote CO2 activation. The research team plans to continue their work with the aim of creating rings containing heavier pnictogens.

Further information: Prasenjit Palui et al, Combining Distibene, diazoolefins, and Visible Light: Synthesis and Reactivity of Inorganic Rings, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2025). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c15626

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Citation: Heavy dipnictogen chemistry: Researchers create heterocycles with multiple antimony atoms (January 16, 2025), https://phys.org/news/2025-01-heavy-dipnictogen-chemistry-heterocycles- Retrieved January 16, 2025 from antimony. html

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