Pinacol Boron Lewis acid catalyzed

To elucidate the reaction pathway, deuterium-labeled allenyl pinacol boronate 10 was prepared, and the addition reaction with hydrazonoester 6 was conducted in the presence of Bi(OH)3 and Cu(OH)2 (Scheme 4). In both Bi- and Cu-catalyzed cases, the reactions proceeded smoothly (in quantitative yields in both cases). In the Bi(OH)3-catalyzed reaction, a major product was allenyl compound 11, in which the internal position was deuterized. It was assumed that a propargyl bismuth was formed via transmetalation from boron to bismuth, followed by addition to hydrazonoester via y-addition to afford allenyl compound 11. Thus, two y-additions could selectively provide a-addition products [75, 76, 105, 106]. It was confirmed that isomerization of 10 did not occur. Recently, we reported Ag20-catalyzed anti-selective a-addition of a-substituted allyltributyltin with aldehydes in aqueous media [107], On the other hand, in the Cu(OH)2-catalyzed reaction, a major product was propargyl compound 12, in which the terminal position was deuterized. A possible mechanism is that Cu(OH)2 worked as a Lewis acid catalyst to activate hydrazonoester 6 and that allenyl boronate 10 [83-85] reacted with activated 6 via y-addition to afford 12. 

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