Borane-Catalysed Hydroboration of Alkynes and Alkenes

Abstract

Simple, commercially available borane adducts, H3B·THF and H3B·SMe2, have been used to catalyse the hydroboration of alkynes and alkenes with pinacolborane to give the alkenyl and alkyl boronic esters, respectively. Alkynes and terminal alkenes underwent highly regioselective hydroboration to give the linear boronic ester products. Good functional group tolerance was observed for substrates bearing ester, amine, ether and halide substituents. This catalytic process shows comparable reactivity to transition-metal-catalysed hydroboration protocols.