Acid Initiation of Ammonia–Borane Dehydrogenation for Hydrogen Storage

Liberating hydrogen: Strong Lewis or Brønsted acids react with ammonia–borane (H3NBH3) to form an in situ boronium cation, resulting in the formation of a mixture of cyclic and acyclic BNHx oligomers and the liberation of H2 (see scheme). A proposed mechanism is supported by an examination of the reaction thermodynamics using density functional theory.