Efficient Cobalt Catalyst for Ambient-Temperature Nitrile Dihydroboration, the Elucidation of a Chelate-Assisted Borylation Mechanism, and a New Synthetic Route to Amides

N,N-Diborylamines have emerged as promising reagents in organic synthesis; however, their efficient preparation and full synthetic utility have yet to be realized. To address both shortcomings, an effective catalyst for nitrile dihydroboration was sought. Heating CoCl2 in the presence of PyEtPDI afforded the six-coordinate Co(II) salt, [(PyEtPDI)CoCl][Cl]. Upon adding 2 equiv of NaEt3BH, hydride transfer to one chelate imine functionality was observed, resulting in the formation of (κ4-N,N,N,N-PyEtIPCHMeNEtPy)Co. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction and density functional theory calculations revealed that this compound possesses a low-spin Co(II) ground state featuring antiferromagnetic coupling to a singly reduced imino(pyridine) moiety. Importantly, (κ4-N,N,N,N-PyEtIPCHMeNEtPy)Co was found to catalyze the dihydroboration of nitriles using HBPin with turnover frequencies of up to 380 h–1 at ambient temperature. Stoichiometric addition experiments revealed that HBPin adds across the Co–Namide bond to generate...