Copper-catalyzed silylation of aryl and alkenyl triflates with silylboronic esters avoiding base-mediated borylation

Chem Commun (Camb). 2024 May 13. doi: 10.1039/d4cc01005a. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Silylation of aryl and alkenyl triflates is found to occur readily with silylboronic esters as a silicon source under copper catalysis. The silyl moieties are exclusively installed into the organic frameworks through the preferential generation of a silylcopper species, wherein base-mediated direct borylation is totally suppressed. The combined use of tri-n-butylphosphine and 4,4'-diphenyl-2,2'-bipyridine as a ligand combination turned out to be indispensable for achieving the high catalytic activity.