Hydrogen elimination in dimethylamine-borane

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ic50084a028

The elimination of hydrogen from dimethylamine-borane was studied at 100° by observing the hydrogen isotope distribution in the products resulting from reactants with different hydrogen isotopes on nitrogen and/or boron. The results clearly eliminate the possibility of a unimolecular elimination and favor a bimolecular reaction. Different deuterium isotope effects on the elimination rates were deduced, depending on whether the nitrogen atom or the boron atom was substituted (k_{N- H}/k_{N- D} = 3.5; k_{B- H}/k_{B- D} = 1.2). Various possible isotopic exchange reactions which could have complicated the study were investigated.