C-H bond activation by radical ion pairs derived from R3P/Al(C6F5)3 frustrated Lewis pairs and N2O.

Al(C6F5)3/R3P [R = tert-butyl (tBu), mesityl (Mes), naphthyl (Nap)] frustrated Lewis pairs react with N2O to form species having the formula R3P(N2O)Al(C6F5)3, which react with additional alane to generate proposed frustrated radical ion pairs formulated as [R3P·][(μ-O·)(Al(C6F5)3)2] that can activate C-H bonds. For R = tBu, C-H activation of a tBu group affords [tBu2PMe(C(CH2)Me)][(μ-OH)(Al(C6F5)3)2]. In the case of R = Mes, the radical cation salt [Mes3P·][(μ-HO)(Al(C6F5)3)2] is isolated, while for R = Nap, the activation of toluene and bromobenzene gives [(Nap)3PCH2Ph][(μ-OH)(Al(C6F5)3)2] and [(Nap)3PC6H4Br][(μ-HO)(Al(C6F5)3)2], respectively.