Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
The sterically demanding carbene 1,3-di-tert-butylimidazolidin-2-ylidene and B(C6F5)3 form a “frustrated” Lewis pair (FLP), which is able to cleave dihydrogen heterolytically. In the absence of reactants, this FLP system exhibits dehydrogenation reactivity to give a mixture of an imidazolidinium borate and an abnormal carbene–borane adduct.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Holschumacher et al. (2009) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: