. 66, 377 (1988).The preparation of the title compounds demonstrates the bis-N-alkylation of secondary amines by formaldehyde, these labile ammonium inner salts being captured as diphenylboron chelates. Crystals of 5,5-trimethylene-2,2;diphenyl-l,3-dioxa-5-azonia-2-boratacyclohexane are orthorhombic, a = 8.8461(3), b = 10.7290(4), c = 15.8773(5) A, Z = 4, space group P212121, and those of 5,5-dimethyl-2,2-diphenyl-1,3-dioxa-5-azonia-2-boratacyclohexane monohydrate are monoclinic, a = 6.2432(3), b = 17.1469(8), c = 14.3701(5) A, P = 90.647(3)", Z = 4, space group P21/n. Both structures were solved by direct methods and were refined by full-matrix least-squares procedures to R = 0.030 and 0.047 for 1400 and 2258 reflections with I ? 3 u ( l ) , respectively. Both compounds have a B,N-betaine structure, the six-membered chelate rings adopting chair conformations. Libration-corrected bond lengths, 0-B = 1.508 (3) [Traduit par la revue] Introduction The alkylation of N,N-dialkylhydroxylamines 1 by formaldehyde leads to labile adducts 2 which can be trapped as diphenylboron chelates 3, as shown for N,N-dimethylhydroxylamine ( I , R = CH3) by an X-ray crystallographic analysis (I). The formal insertion of methylene into 1 results in N-hydroxymethylamines 4 which are also described as zwitterionic primary adducts of formaldehyde and an amine (2). Formaldehyde adducts of dialkylamine (3) are known as very labile compounds2 and exist generally as short-lived intermediates during the formation of enamines, aminals, iminium salts, Mannich bases, or similar compounds. Compared to the hydroxylamines 1, the hydroxymethylamines 4 should be nucleophilic enough to add a second molecule of formaldehyde in a reversible reaction to give the labile intermediate 5 by N-alkylation of the tertiary amine, or an intermediate 7 by 0-alkylation of the zwitterionic form. As reported in a preliminary communication (3), the dialkylamine-bisformaldehyde adducts can also be captured as diphenylboron chelates which are stable crystalline materials. A cyclic B,N-betaine structure