DFT study about the effects of BX3 (X = H, F, Cl and Br) derivatives on the C–H acidity enhancement

Abstract

A computational study about the effect of BX3 (X = H, F, Cl and Br) interaction in C–H acidity enhancement of some aldehyde, ketone and imine molecules is performed by B3LYP/6- 311++G(d,p) method in gas phase. The boron derivatives of model molecules show more acidity in comparison with their pure forms. This acidity improvement is attributed to the effective interaction of the C = O/C = N group with the B atom of BX3. The acidity enhancement is according to the BBr3 >  BCl3 >  BF3 >  BH3 order which shows that boron compounds with electron withdrawing groups and especially BBr3 can be used as an effective and promising C–H activator in various organic reactions.