Enantioselective Cu-catalyzed double hydroboration of alkynes to access chiral gem-diborylalkanes

Nat Commun. 2022 Jun 20;13(1):3524. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31234-2.

Abstract

Chiral organoborons are of great value in asymmetric synthesis, functional materials, and medicinal chemistry. The development of chiral bis(boryl) alkanes, especially optically enriched 1,1-diboron compounds, has been greatly inhibited by the lack of direct synthetic protocols. Therefore, it is very challenging to develop a simple and effective strategy to obtain chiral 1,1-diborylalkanes. Herein, we develop an enantioselective copper-catalyzed cascade double hydroboration of terminal alkynes and highly enantioenriched gem-diborylalkanes were readily obtained. Our strategy uses simple terminal alkynes and two different boranes to construct valuable chiral gem-bis(boryl) alkanes with one catalytic and one ligand pattern, which represents the simplest and most straightforward strategy for constructing such chiral gem-diborons.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alkanes / chemistry
  • Alkynes* / chemistry
  • Catalysis
  • Copper* / chemistry
  • Stereoisomerism

Substances

  • Alkanes
  • Alkynes
  • Copper