title: Donor-acceptor assisted alkyne hydration: a luminescent boron-stabilized enol.
abstract: An alkyne molecule 2-(2'-BMes(2)-phenylethynyl)pyridine (1) that contains a Lewis acidic BMes(2) group and a Lewis basic pyridyl group has been found to undergo facile hydration under ambient conditions in the presence of CuI, forming a highly emissive and stable enol ester (2). The lack of any hydration reactivity by a control compound 2-(2'-BMes(2)-phenylethynyl)benzene (3) under the same conditions supports that the cooperativity between the Lewis donor and acceptor groups plays a key role in the formation of 2.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jiasheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Suning
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang