ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Frustrated Lewis pairs in ionic liquids ? towards operando experiments

Abstract: Frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) are a combination of a Lewis acid and a Lewis base (e.g. borane/phosphine), prevented from forming an adduct by steric hindrance. In a solvent, the acid and the base remain partly associated in a weakly bound encounter complex, in which the HOMO orbital of the base and the LUMO orbital of an acid remain free. This allows for unique, transition metal-like reactivity of FLPs, including metal-free activation of H2. Our past work served as the first direct experimental evidence for the existence of encounter complex in benzene, and more recently ? for enhanced encounter complex formation in ionic liquids (ILs). Here, we propose the study of FLP-IL solutions that are supported on a porous solid (MCM-41), to explore differences between bulk solutions and solutions in pores, and building towards the study of metal free, in operando hydrogenations.

Principal Investigator: Professor Gosia Swadzba-Kwasny
Experimenter: Ms Malka Urooj
Experimenter: Dr Daniel Bowron
Local Contact: Dr Tristan Youngs
Experimenter: Miss Kerri McKeever
Experimenter: Professor John Holbrey
Experimenter: Miss Beth Murray
Experimenter: Dr Sofia Diaz-Moreno

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2420443

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2420443

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
Select the data format above to find out more about it.

Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Professor Gosia Swadzba-Kwasny et al; (2024): Frustrated Lewis pairs in ionic liquids ? towards operando experiments, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2420443

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.