Synthesis, Structure, and Reactivity of Anionic sp(2) -sp(3) Diboron Compounds: Readily Accessible Boryl Nucleophiles.

Lewis base adducts of tetra-alkoxy diboron compounds, in particular bis(pinacolato)diboron (B2 pin2 ), have been proposed as the active source of nucleophilic boryl species in metal-free borylation reactions. We report the isolation and detailed structural characterization (by solid-state and solution NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography) of a series of anionic adducts of B2 pin2 with hard Lewis bases, such as alkoxides and fluoride. The study was extended to alternative Lewis bases, such as acetate, and other diboron reagents. The B(sp(2) )-B(sp(3) ) adducts exhibit two distinct boron environments in the solid-state and solution NMR spectra, except for [(4-tBuC6 H4 O)B2 pin2 ](-) , which shows rapid site exchange in solution. DFT calculations were performed to analyze the stability of the adducts with respect to dissociation. Stoichiometric reaction of the isolated adducts with two representative series of organic electrophiles-namely, aryl halides and diazonium salts-demonstrate the relative reactivities of the anionic diboron compounds as nucleophilic boryl anion sources.

Synthesis of a series of novel chiral Lewis base catalysts and their application in promoting asymmetric hydrosilylation of ß-enamino esters.

A series of novel chiral Lewis base catalysts were synthesized from L-serine and applied in the hydrosilylation of ß-enamino esters, in which the optimal one promoted the reactions to afford a wide variety of ß-amino esters in good yields with good enantioselectivities. It is noteworthy that several cyclic substrates were hydrosilylated under the optimal conditions to give the cyclic ß-amino esters with high yields, good diastereoselectivities as well as good ee values.

Intrinsically fluorescent glycoligands to study metal selectivity.

Glycoligands are a versatile family of ligands centered on a sugar platform and functionalized by Lewis bases. In this article, pentofuranoses were appended with the fluoroionophores 4-(pyridin-2'-yl)-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl and 4-(2',1',3'-benzothiadiazol-4'-yl)-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl using the "click-like" cycloaddition [2 + 3] of Huisgen catalyzed by copper(I). Their fluorescence properties were used to study metal cation complexation. A possible selective functionalization of furanoscaffolds allows the synthesis of "mixed" glycoligands with the successive insertion of these different fluoroionophores. The metal selectivity and the chelating behavior of these six resulting intrinsically fluorescent glycoligands were investigated. The change in the configuration at the carbon C3 of furanose did not influence either the metal selectivity or the binding constants. However, different selectivities and binding constants were found to depend on the nature of the fluoroionophore moieties. Overall, the triazolylbenzothiadiazolyl chelating group was shown to be less efficient than the triazolylpyridyl claw for complexation. Interestingly enough, the triazolylbenzothiadiazolyl claw, which fluoresces in the visible range, did not interfere in the binding and selectivity of the more efficient triazolylpyridyl claw. This study suggests that the triazolylbenzothiadiazolyl moiety could be used as an adequate fluorescent reporter to qualitatively monitor complexation of other moieties.

Lewis base catalyzed enantioselective allylic hydroxylation of Morita-Baylis-Hillman carbonates with water.

A Lewis base catalyzed allylic hydroxylation of Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) carbonates has been developed. Various chiral MBH alcohols can be synthesized in high yields (up to 99%) and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 94% ee). This is the first report using water as a nucleophile in asymmetric organocatalysis. The nucleophilic role of water has been verified using (18)O-labeling experiments.