PREPARATION, SPECTRA AND X-RAY STRUCTURE OF AN ARCHETYPAL COORDINATION COMPOUND [BCL3(NH3)] AND ITS THERMOLYSIS

Crystalline [BCl3(NH3)] 1 is obtained in low yield from [NH4]Cl and BC l3 in toluene, with trichloroborazine (BCINH)(3) 2 as the principal pr oduct; detailed NMR spectroscopic data on 1 in CDCl3 are consistent wi th the X-ray structure, which shows intermolecular hydrogen bonding wi th four molecules in the unit cell [(H ... Cl)(av) 2.76(3) Angstrom], B-N 1.579(4), (B-CI)(av) 1.837(4) and (N-H)(av) 0.86(5) Angstrom, with the boron and nitrogen environments approximately tetrahedral; thermo lysis of 1 yields 2 and a TGA experiment shows that at 450 degrees C b oron nitride is the ultimate product.