Matthew Wiebe
mattwiebe.bsky.social
Matthew Wiebe
@mattwiebe.bsky.social
NSERC PDF based in Kiel. Makes weird polymers. Ph.D. (UVic), M.Sc. (York), B.Sc. (UWinnipeg). Likes food, wine, long walks and pinball. 🏳️‍🌈
🔥Drop it like it’s hot 🔥

Second hot paper of 2025 now out in @inorgchemfront.rsc.org ! This one is a full review on poly(aminoboranes) and poly(phosphinoboranes). Everything you may need to know about them available here:

pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/A...
Transition-metal-free approaches to poly(aminoboranes) and poly(phosphinoboranes): mechanisms, advances, and future directions
Poly(aminoboranes) and poly(phosphinoboranes) have been of interest as inorganic analogues of poly(olefins) as early as the mid-20th century. However, their synthesis was only realised about 15 and 25...
pubs.rsc.org
November 6, 2025 at 3:17 PM
🚨2nd paper of 2025 out🚨Tired of making a catalyst over weeks to dehydrocouple your PB adducts? Turns out you don’t need to! Simple additives like LiOTf and BH3•SMe2 work just as well (if not better) than designer catalysts. Read more here:

pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
BH3·SMe2 addition enables molar mass control via chain stabilization in phosphine–borane dehydropolymerization
We report the synthesis of high molar mass polyphosphinoboranes using commercially available reagents through thermal dehydropolymerization in the presence of Lewis acids and bases. These dehydropolym...
pubs.rsc.org
February 18, 2025 at 2:32 PM
🔥Hot🔥 new paper just dropped in CEJ! Sick of dehydrocoupling your phosphine-boranes at elevated temperatures? Too impatient to make CAAC or NHC? Just add aminoborane! That’s right, aminoboranes dehydrocouple PB adducts with ease! See below:

chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Dehydrocoupling of Phosphine‐Borane Adducts Under Ambient Conditions Using Aminoboranes as Hydrogen Acceptors
Aminoboranes (R2N=BH2; R = Me, Et) accept hydrogen from phosphine borane adducts (PhR′PH ⋅ BH3; R′ = H, Ph). This transfer is proposed to occur via a 6-membered transition state. Further, the reactio...
chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 9, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Day two of post-defence hiking involved going to another one of my favourite spots around Vancouver Island. Hiked up a mountain then enjoyed an incredible sunset on the beach.
November 28, 2024 at 10:43 PM
Defended my Ph.D. on Monday! Forgot to take a picture the day of, but have been out and about touching grass and arbutus trees (or as I like to call them, arbeauties) since. Definitely going to miss living in Victoria! Truly a beautiful place to live for a few years.
November 27, 2024 at 5:59 PM