Photodissociation of B-N Lewis adducts: a partially fused trinaphthylborane with dual fluorescence.

The synthesis of a planarized trinaphthylborane with partially fused structure is presented. This compound shows not only high chemical and thermal stability but also sufficient Lewis acidity to form Lewis adducts with pyridine derivatives in solution. The B-N Lewis adducts exhibit unprecedented photodissociation behavior in the excited state, reminiscent of the photogeneration of carbenium ions from triarylmethane leuco dyes. Consequently, these B-N Lewis adducts exhibit dual fluorescence emission arising from the initial tetracoordinate B-N adducts and the photodissociated tricoordinate boranes.