Stepwise trimethylsilyl and trimethylgermyl substitutions at tetraborylmethane

Diboryldisilyl- and diboryldigermyl- methanes were synthesized via stepwise deborylation-metalation of a tetraborylmethane. The new compounds were characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The disubstituted compounds are air- and water-stable and can be readily purified by column chromatography.153