Tris(2,4,6-trifluorophenyl)borane: An Efficient Hydroboration Catalyst

The metal-free catalyst tris(2,4,6-trifluorophenyl)borane has demonstrated its extensive applications in the 1,2-hydroboration of numerous unsaturated reagents, namely alkynes, aldehydes and imines consisting of a wide array of electron withdrawing- and donating-functionalities. A range of over 50 borylated products are reported, with many reactions proceeding with low catalyst loading under ambient conditions. These pinacol boronate esters, which in the case of aldehydes and imines can be readily hydrolyzed to leave the respective alcohol and amine whilst alkynyl substrates result in vinyl boranes which is of great synthetic use to the organic chemist. The Experimental, X-ray and NMR are provided. X-ray data are included here which can be visualized using software for X-ray crystal structure determination/visualization which was used to characterise the compounds synthesised.

Research results based upon these data are published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201703109