Electrochemical behaviour of organic boron compounds

The electrochemical behaviour of trimethyl-, tributyl-, triphenyl-, tri-α-naphthyl- and trimesitylboron as well as their complexes with ammonia and pyridine is studied. It is shown that the simples organic boron compounds are electrochemically oxidized with difficulty and the anode peak potential values cannot be used for evaluation of their reactivity in relation to oxygen. The complexing inreases the organic boron compounds reactivity to electrochemical oxidation. The reduction of triaryl boron compounds on a mercury dropping electrode results in anion-radical formation, the dimerization rate of which depends on solvating ability of the solvent