Boron hydroboration

Boron.—Hydroboration and B—C Bond Formation. There have been several efforts aimed at stabilizing those alkylboranes with established synthetic use but limited stability (CH2NMe2)2 (TMED) complexes of BH2R and BHR2 are air... 

Methods of producing B —C bonds include hydroboration, nucleophilic displacement at a boron atom in BX., (X = halogens or B(0R>3) by e.g. a Grignard reagent, and a psewiio-Friedel-Crafts reaction with an aromatic hydrocarbon, BX3, and AICI3. 

Cis-olefins or cis./rjns-dienes can be obtained from alkynes in similar reaction sequences. The alkyne is first hydroborated and then treated with alkaline iodine. If the other substituents on boron are alkyl groups, a cis-olefin is formed (G. Zweifel, 1967). If they are cir-alkenyls, a cis, trans-diene results. The reactions are thought to be iodine-assisted migrations of the cis-alkenyl group followed by (rans-deiodoboronation (G. Zweifel, 1968). Trans, trans-dienes are made from haloalkynes and alkynes. These compounds are added one after the other to thexylborane. The alkenyl(l-haloalkenyl)thexylboranes are converted with sodium methoxide into trans, trans-dienes (E. Negishi, 1973). The thexyl group does not migrate. 

Hydroboration is a reaction m which a boron hydride a compound of the type R2BH adds to a carbon-carbon bond A carbon-hydrogen bond and a carbon-boron bond result... 

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... 

The electrophilic character of boron is again evident when we consider the oxida tion of organoboranes In the oxidation phase of the hydroboration-oxidation sequence as presented m Figure 6 11 the conjugate base of hydrogen peroxide attacks boron Hydroperoxide ion is formed m an acid-base reaction m step 1 and attacks boron m step 2 The empty 2p orbital of boron makes it electrophilic and permits nucleophilic reagents such as HOO to add to it... 

Hydroboration is the addition of a boron—hydrogenbond across a double or triple carbon—carbon bond to give an organoborane ... 

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). 

Although dichloroborane reacts direcdy with alkenes in the gas phase (118), its complexes with diethyl ether and dimethyl sulfide are so strong that direct hydroboration does not proceed (119,120). The addition of a decomplexing agent, eg, boron trichloride, is necessary for hydroboration. 

Both ( )- and (Z)-l-halo-l-alkenes can be prepared by hydroboration of 1-alkynes or 1-halo-l-alkynes followed by halogenation of the intermediate boronic esters (244,245). Differences in the addition—elimination mechanisms operating in these reactions lead to the opposite configurations of iodides as compared to bromides and chlorides. 

An alternative synthesis of (Z)-l-halo-l-alkenes involves hydroboration of 1-halo-l-alkynes, followed by protonolysis (246,247). Disubstituted ( )-and (Z)-a1keny1 bromides can be prepared from ( )- and (Z)-a1keny1 boronic esters, respectively, by treatment with bromine followed by base (248). 

Boron Bromide. Approximately 30% of BBr produced in the United States is consumed in the manufacture of proprietory pharmaceuticals (qv) (7). BBr is used in the manufacture of isotopicaHy enriched crystalline boron, as a Etiedel-Crafts catalyst in various polymerization, alkylation, and acylation reactions, and in semiconductor doping and etching. Examples of use of BBr as a catalyst include copolymerization of butadiene with olefins (112) polymerization of ethylene and propylene (113), and A/-vinylcarbazole (114) in hydroboration reactions and in tritium labeling of steroids and aryl rings (5). 

In an analogous fashion to the hydroboration reaction, a variety of boron-containing substrates react with iminoboranes. Addition of X2B—Cl, X2B—N3, X2B—SR, X2B—NR2, and X2B—R to the unsaturated B—N system is called chloro-, azido-, thio-, amino-, and alkyloboration, respectively. The azidoboration and chloroboration of two iminoboranes are shown ia equations 23 and 24 (72). 

The successful labeling of the elusive 14a-position in cholestane represents a very important application of this reaction.It is known that hydroboration of the double bond in 5of-cholest-14-ene (174) occurs on the a-side. Consequently, by using deuteriodiborane (generated by the reaction of boron trifluoride etherate with lithium aluminum deuteride) and then propionic acid for hydrolysis of the alkylborane intermediate, 14a-d,-5a-cholestane (175) is obtained in 90% isotopic purity. This method also provides a facile route to the C-15 labeled analog (176) when the alkylborane derived from 5a-cholest-14-ene is hydrolyzed with propionic acid-OD. ... 

The synthetic method used to accomplish this is an indirect one known as hydroboration-oxidation. It was developed by Professor Herbert C. Brown and his coworkers at Purdue University in the 1950s as part of a broad progran designed to apply boron-containing reagents to organic chemical synthesis. The number of applications is so large (hydroboration-oxidation is just one of them) and the work so novel that Brown was a corecipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in chemistry. 

With this as introduction, let us now look at the individual steps in more detail for the case of hydroboration-oxidation of 1-decene. A boron hydride that is often used is dibomne (B2H6). Diborane adds to 1-decene to give tridecylborane according to the balanced equation ... 

This reaction, now termed hydroboration, has opened up the quantitative preparation of organoboranes and these, in turn, have proved to be of outstanding synthetic utility. It was for his development of this field that H. C. Brown (Purdue) was awarded the 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry . Hydroboration is regiospecific, the boron showing preferential attachment to the least substituted C atom (anti-Markovnikov). This finds ready interpretation in terms of electronic factors and relative bond polarities (p. 144) steric factors also work in the same direction. The addition is stereospecific cis (syn). Recent extensions of the methodology have encompassed the significant development of generalized chiral syntheses. 

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