Borane alkenes

Migrations are especially facile for fefra-substituted alkenes they occur at 50-60°C and exhibit both regio- and stereoselectivity. The course of the reactions is dictated by the relative energy of the reversibly formed borane alkene complexes. ... 

Borane is a soft Lewis acid, therefore its complexation with soft olefin linkages is very favorable. Apparently the initial borane-alkene complexes collapse rapidly to a four-centered transition state leading to the organo-boranes without the participation of external nucleophiles. This process is called hydroboration (34). 

Diborane or aUcylboranes are used for reduaion of alkenes and alkynes via hydrobora-tion (see pp. 37f., 47f., 130f.) followed by hydrolysis of the borane with acetic acid (H.C. Brown, 1975). 

A more convenient hydroboratmg agent is the borane-tetrahydrofuran complex (H3B THF) It IS very reactive adding to alkenes within minutes at 0°C and is used m tetrahydrofuran as the solvent... 

The regioselectivity and syn stereochemistry of hydroboration-oxidation coupled with a knowledge of the chemical properties of alkenes and boranes contribute to our under standing of the reaction mechanism... 

We can consider the hydroboration step as though it involved borane (BH3) It sim phfies our mechanistic analysis and is at variance with reality only m matters of detail Borane is electrophilic it has a vacant 2p orbital and can accept a pair of electrons into that orbital The source of this electron pair is the rr bond of an alkene It is believed as shown m Figure 6 10 for the example of the hydroboration of 1 methylcyclopentene that the first step produces an unstable intermediate called a tt complex In this rr com plex boron and the two carbon atoms of the double bond are joined by a three center two electron bond by which we mean that three atoms share two electrons Three center two electron bonds are frequently encountered m boron chemistry The tt complex is formed by a transfer of electron density from the tt orbital of the alkene to the 2p orbital... 

Step 1 A molecule of borane (BH3) attacks the alkene Electrons flow from the 7C orbital of the alkene to the 2p orbital of boron A 7C complex is formed... 

Mono-, di-, and trialkylboranes may be obtained from olefins and the trifunctional borane molecule. Simple unhindered alkenes yield trialkylboranes and it is not possible to halt the reaction at the mono- or dialkylborane stage. With more hindered and trisubstituted alkenes the reaction can be controlled to stop at the dialkylborane stage. 

A number of less hindered monoalkylboranes is available by indirect methods, eg, by treatment of a thexylborane—amine complex with an olefin (69), the reduction of monohalogenoboranes or esters of boronic acids with metal hydrides (70—72), the redistribution of dialkylboranes with borane (64) or the displacement of an alkene from a dialkylborane by the addition of a tertiary amine (73). To avoid redistribution, monoalkylboranes are best used /V situ or freshly prepared. However, they can be stored as monoalkylborohydrides or complexes with tertiary amines. The free monoalkylboranes can be hberated from these derivatives when required (69,74—76). Methylborane, a remarkably unhindered monoalkylborane, exhibits extraordinary hydroboration characteristics. It hydroborates hindered and even unhindered olefins to give sequentially alkylmethyl- and dialkylmethylboranes (77—80). 

Primary dialkylboranes react readily with most alkenes at ambient temperatures and dihydroborate terminal acetylenes. However, these unhindered dialkylboranes exist in equiUbtium with mono- and ttialkylboranes and cannot be prepared in a state of high purity by the reaction of two equivalents of an alkene with borane (35—38). Nevertheless, such mixtures can be used for hydroboration if the products are acceptable for further transformations or can be separated (90). When pure primary dialkylboranes are required they are best prepared by the reduction of dialkylhalogenoboranes with metal hydrides (91—93). To avoid redistribution they must be used immediately or be stabilized as amine complexes or converted into dialkylborohydtides. 

Dibromoborane—dimethyl sulfide is a more convenient reagent. It reacts directly with alkenes and alkynes to give the corresponding alkyl- and alkenyldibromoboranes (120—123). Dibromoborane differentiates between alkenes and alkynes hydroborating internal alkynes preferentially to terminal double and triple bonds (123). Unlike other substituted boranes it is more reactive toward 1,1-disubstituted than monosubstituted alkenes (124). 

Among chiral dialkylboranes, diisopinocampheylborane (8) is the most important and best-studied asymmetric hydroborating agent. It is obtained in both enantiomeric forms from naturally occurring a-pinene. Several procedures for its synthesis have been developed (151—153). The most convenient one, providing product of essentially 100% ee, involves the hydroboration of a-pinene with borane—dimethyl sulfide in tetrahydrofuran (154). Other chiral dialkylboranes derived from terpenes, eg, 2- and 3-carene (155), limonene (156), and longifolene (157,158), can also be prepared by controlled hydroboration. A more tedious approach to chiral dialkylboranes is based on the resolution of racemates. /n j -2,5-Dimethylborolane, which shows excellent enantioselectivity in the hydroboration of all principal classes of prochiral alkenes except 1,1-disubstituted terminal double bonds, has been... 

The addition proceeds in three discrete steps and the intermediates can be isolated. Simple alkenes are less reactive than alkynes and do not undergo the addition to aHylic boranes, but electron-rich alkyl vinyl ethers react at moderate temperatures to give 1,4-dienes or dienyl alcohols (440). 

Borane 2 adds to carbon-carbon double bonds without the need of catalytic activation. This reaction has been discovered and thoroughly investigated by H. C. Browm, and is called hydroboration It permits a regioselective and stereospecific conversion of alkenes to a variety of functionalized products. 

In the next step, one of the borane-hydrogens is transferred to a sp -carbon center of the alkene and a carbon-boron bond is formed, via a four-membered cyclic transition state 6. A mono-alkyIborane R-BH2 molecule thus formed can react the same way with two other alkene molecules, to yield a trialkylborane R3B. In case of tri- and tctra-substituted alkenes—e.g. 2-methylbut-2-ene 7 and 2,3-dimethylbut-2-ene 9—which lead to sterically demanding alkyl-substituents at the boron center, borane will react with only two or even only one equivalent of alkene, to yield a alkylborane or mono alky Iborane respectively ... 

Since borane BH3 reacts with only one or two equivalents of a sterically hindered alkene, it is possible to prepare less reactive and more selective borane reagents R2BH and RBH2 respectively. In addition to disiamylborane 8 and thexylbo-rane 10, the 9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane (9-BBN) 14 is an important reagent for hydroboration, since it is stable to air it is prepared by addition of borane 2 to cycloocta-1,5-diene 13 ... 

In addition to the oxymercuration method, which yields the Markovnikov product, a complementary method that yields the non-Markovnikov product is also useful. Discovered in 1959 by H. C. Brown and cailed hydroboration, the reaction involves addition of a B-H bond of borane, BH3, to an alkene to yield an organoborane intermediate, RBH2. Oxidation of the organoborane by reaction with basic hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, then gives an alcohol. For example ... 

Hydration of an alkene—the addition of water—is carried out by either of two procedures, depending on the product desired. Oxymercuration involves electrophilic addition of Hg2+ to an alkene, followed by trapping of the cation intermediate with water and subsequent treatment with NaBH4. Hydroboration involves addition of borane (BH3) followed by oxidation of the intermediate organoborane with alkaline H202- The two hydration methods are complementary oxymercuration gives the product of Markovnikov addition, whereas hydroboration/oxidation gives the product with non-Markovnikov syn stereochemistry. 

Strategy What is an immediate precursor of a primary alcohol " Perhaps a terminal alkene, which could be hydrated with non-Markovnikov regiochemistiy by reaction with borane Followed by oxidation with H2O2-... 

Hydrolioration (Section 7.5) Addition of borane (BH i) or an alkylborane to an alkene. The resultant trialkyliiorane products are useful synthetic intermediates that can be oxidized to yield alcohols. 

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