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Diborane reacts with Lewis bases to form adducts.

I did some research on my own, and found that ammonia breaks it unsymmetrically but $\ce{CO}$ and $\ce{PF3}$ break it symmetrically. I cannot find the reason.

orthocresol
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user340743
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  • http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/50156/mechanism-for-the-cleavage-of-diborane http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/27826/why-is-diborane-cleaved-symmetrically-by-trimethylamine-but-unsymmetrically-by-a – Mithoron Jan 26 '17 at 17:18
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    Clearly not a duplicate, since "sterics" are no longer a good answer: $\ce{NH3}$ is intermediate in volume between $\ce{CO}$ and $\ce{PF3}$. – pentavalentcarbon Aug 13 '17 at 02:35

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