Borylation

Metal-catalyzed C–H borylation reactions are transition metal catalyzed organic reactions that produce an organoboron compound through functionalization of aliphatic and aromatic C–H bonds and are therefore useful reactions for carbon–hydrogen bond activation. Metal-catalyzed C–H borylation reactions utilize transition metals to directly convert a C–H bond into a C–B bond. This route can be advantageous compared to traditional borylation reactions by making use of cheap and abundant hydrocarbon starting material, limiting prefunctionalized organic compounds, reducing toxic byproducts, and streamlining the synthesis of biologically important molecules. Boronic acids, and boronic esters are common boryl groups incorporated into organic molecules through borylation reactions. Boronic acids are trivalent boron-containing organic compounds that possess one alkyl substituent and two hydroxyl groups. Similarly, boronic esters possess one alkyl substituent and two ester groups. Boronic acids and esters are classified depending on the type of carbon group (R) directly bonded to boron, for example alkyl-, alkenyl-, alkynyl-, and aryl-boronic esters. The most common type of starting materials that incorporate boronic esters into organic compounds for transition metal catalyzed borylation reactions have the general formula (RO)2B-B(OR)2. For example, Bis(pinacolato)diboron (B2Pin2), and bis(catecholato)diborane (B2Cat2) are common boron sources of this general formula. Metal-catalyzed C–H borylation reactions are transition metal catalyzed organic reactions that produce an organoboron compound through functionalization of aliphatic and aromatic C–H bonds and are therefore useful reactions for carbon–hydrogen bond activation. Metal-catalyzed C–H borylation reactions utilize transition metals to directly convert a C–H bond into a C–B bond. This route can be advantageous compared to traditional borylation reactions by making use of cheap and abundant hydrocarbon starting material, limiting prefunctionalized organic compounds, reducing toxic byproducts, and streamlining the synthesis of biologically important molecules. Boronic acids, and boronic esters are common boryl groups incorporated into organic molecules through borylation reactions. Boronic acids are trivalent boron-containing organic compounds that possess one alkyl substituent and two hydroxyl groups. Similarly, boronic esters possess one alkyl substituent and two ester groups. Boronic acids and esters are classified depending on the type of carbon group (R) directly bonded to boron, for example alkyl-, alkenyl-, alkynyl-, and aryl-boronic esters. The most common type of starting materials that incorporate boronic esters into organic compounds for transition metal catalyzed borylation reactions have the general formula (RO)2B-B(OR)2. For example, Bis(pinacolato)diboron (B2Pin2), and bis(catecholato)diborane (B2Cat2) are common boron sources of this general formula. The boron atom of a boronic ester or acid is sp2 hybridized possessing a vacant p orbital, enabling these groups to act as Lewis acids. The C–B bond of boronic acids and esters are slightly longer than typical C–C single bonds with a range of 1.55-1.59 Å. The lengthened C–B bond relative to the C–C bond results in a bond energy that is also slightly less than that of C–C bonds (323 kJ/mol for C–B vs 358 kJ/mol for C–C). The carbon–hydrogen bond has a bond length of about 1.09 Å, and a bond energy of about 413 kJ/mol. The C–B bond is therefore a useful intermediate as a bond that replaces a typically unreactive C–H bond. Organoboron compounds are organic compounds containing a carbon-boron bond. Organoboron compounds have broad applications for chemical synthesis because the C–B bond can easily be converted into a C–X (X = Br, Cl), C–O, C–N, or C–C bond. Because of the versatility of the C–B bond numerous processes have been developed to incorporate them into organic compounds. Organoboron compounds are traditionally synthesized from Grignard reagents through hydroboration, or diboration reactions. Borylation provides an alternative. As first described by Hartwig, alkanes can be selectively borylated with high selectivity for the primary C–H bond using Cp*Rh(η4-C6Me6) as the catalyst. Notably, selectivity for the primary C–H bond is exclusive even in the presence of heteroatoms in the carbon-hydrogen chain. The rhodium-catalyzed borylation of methyl C–H bonds occurs selectively without a dependence on the position of the heteroatom. Borylation occurs selectively at the least sterically hindered and least electron rich primary C–H bond in a range of acetals, ethers, amines, and alkyl fluorides. Additionally, no reaction is shown to occur in the absence of primary C–H bonds, for example when cyclohexane is the substrate. Selective functionalization of a primary alkane bond is due to the formation of a kinetically and thermodynamically favorable primary alkyl-metal complex over formation of a secondary alkyl-metal complex. The greater stability of primary versus secondary alkyl complexes can be attributed to several factors. First, the primary alkyl complex is favored sterically over the secondary alkyl complex. Second, partial negative charges are often present on the α-carbon of a metal-alkyl complex and a primary alkyl ligand supports a partial negative charge better than a secondary alkyl ligand.The origin of selectivity for aliphatic C–H borylation using rhodium catalysts was probed using a type of mechanistic study called hydrogen–deuterium exchange. H/D exchanged showed that regioselectivity of the overall process shown below results from selective cleavage of primary over secondary C–H bonds and selective functionalization of the primary metal-alkyl intermediate over the secondary metal-alkyl intermediate. The synthetic utility of aliphatic C–H borylation has been applied to the modification of polymers through borylation followed by oxidation to form hydroxyl-functionalized polymers. The first example of a catalytic C–H borylation of an unactivated hydrocarbon (benzene) was reported by Smith and Iverson using Ir(Cp*)(H)(Bpin) as the catalyst. The efficiency of this system, however, was low, providing only 3 turnovers after 120 h at 150 °C. Numerous subsequent developments by Hartwig and coworkers led to efficient, practical conditions for arene borylation. Aromatic C–H borylation was developed by Hartwig and Ishiyama using the diboron reagent Bis(pinacolato)diboron catalyzed by 4,4’-di-tert-butylbipyridine (dtbpy) and 2. With this catalyst system the borylation of aromatic C–H bonds occurs with regioselectivity that is controlled by steric effects of the starting arene. The selectivity for functionalization of aromatic C–H bonds is governed by the general rule that the reaction does not occur ortho to a substituent when a C–H bond lacking an ortho substituent is available. When only one functional group is present borylation occurs in the meta and para position in statistical ratios of 2:1 (meta:para). The ortho isomer is not detected due to the steric effects of the substituent.