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1. Palladium-Catalyzed Aerobic Alkene Arylboration: Coupling Aryl Boronic Acids, Alkenes, and Bis(pinacol)diboron

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.5c03926  

   Pham, Hoang_T P; Bhatt, Shreeja; Hull, Kami L (August 2025, ACS Catalysis)

   Alkyl boronic acids and esters are versatile synthetic intermediates that generally require several steps to synthesize. Three-component alkene arylboration reactions allow for the rapid synthesis of alkyl boronic esters. Herein, we report the base-free aerobic Pd-catalyzed three-component alkene arylboration, which allows direct access, in a single step, to alkyl boronic esters from readily available precursors: aryl boronic acids, alkenes, and bis(pinacol)diboron. This approach allows for the formal insertion of an alkene into an Ar–B bond, and thus, generates an alkyl boronic ester from an aryl boronic acid. The reaction proceeds with both electron-rich and electron-deficient aryl boronic acids as well as strained cyclic, internal, and terminal olefins. The reactions are regioselective: 1,2-arylboration products are formed with strained cyclic alkenes and b-alkyl-styrenes while 1,1-arylboration products are generated from terminal alkenes. Forty-five examples are presented with isolated yields of the resulting alkyl boronic esters ranging from 20-74%, along with several examples demonstrating the synthetic utility of the products. Mechanistic investigations support that the catalytic cycle occurs through direct arylboration of the alkene. Further, p-benzyl intermediates form when possible, and the rate of borylation is increased with electron-rich arenes relative to electron-poor. Finally, we demonstrate that aryl boroxines, generated in situ, are essential for the transformation as they rapidly undergo base-free transmetalation with the proposed palladium peroxo intermediate. 

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2. Non-Classical Amide Bond Formation: Transamidation and Amidation of Activated Amides and Esters by Selective N–C/O–C Cleavage

   https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1707101  

   Li, Guangchen; Szostak, Michal (January 2020, Synthesis)

   In the past several years, tremendous advances have been made in non-classical routes for amide bond formation that involve transamidation and amidation reactions of activated amides and esters. These new methods enable the formation of extremely valuable amide bonds via transition-metal- catalyzed, transition-metal-free or metal-free pathways by exploiting chemoselective acyl C–X (X = N, O) cleavage under mild conditions. In a broadest sense, these reactions overcome the formidable challenge of activating C–N/C–O bonds of amides or esters by rationally tackling nN→π*C=O delocalization in amides and nO→π*C=O donation in esters. In this account, we summarize the recent remarkable advances in the development of new methods for the synthesis of amides with a focus on (1) transition-metal/NHC- catalyzed C–N/C–O bond activation, (2) transition-metal-free highly selective cleavage of C–N/C–O bonds, (3) the development of new acyl-transfer reagents, and (4) other emerging methods. 

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3. Reaction of Carboxylic Acids and Dehydroalanine Allyl Esters via One‐Pot Sequential Decarboxylative Couplings

   https://doi.org/10.1002/cctc.202500696  

   Londhe, Shrikant_S; Waller, Colin_W; Tunge, Jon_A (June 2025, ChemCatChem)

   Abstract A protocol for the iterative decarboxylative cross‐coupling of carboxylic acids with dehydroalanine (Dha) allyl esters is described. A procedure for decarboxylative Giese addition to dehydroalanine allyl esters that avoids 5‐exo‐trig radical cyclization onto the allyl moiety was developed. This results in complex, substituted alanine allyl esters that are poised for a second decarboxylative coupling. Thus, following the photocatalytic decarboxylative alkylation of Dha, the resulting amino acid allyl esters were subjected to decarboxylative allylation under metallaphotoredox/palladium catalysis. The Giese addition and decarboxylative allylation can be performed in one pot simply by triggering the decarboxylative allylation by addition of a palladium catalyst. These one‐pot decarboxylative couplings leverage temporally controlled carboxylate formation to allow controlled, sequential photoredox activation of the carboxylates. The ability to perform sequential, one‐pot photoredox C─C bond formations obviates the need for isolation of intermediates. The final products of these coupling reactions are densely functionalized homoallylic amines and/or unsymmetric, differentiated 1,3‐diamines, both known for their high synthetic value. 

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4. Ligand Control in Co-Catalyzed Regio- and Enantioselective Hydroboration: Homoallyl Secondary Boronates via Uncommon 4,3-Hydroboration of 1,3-Dienes

   https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c00181  

   Parsutkar, Mahesh M.; Bhunia, Subhajit; Majumder, Mayukh; Lalisse, Remy F.; Hadad, Christopher M.; RajanBabu, T.V. (April 2023, Journal of the American Chemical Society)

   ABSTRACT: Enantiopure homoallylic boronate esters are versatile intermediates because the C–B bond in these com-pounds can be stereospecifically transformed into C–C, C–O and C–N bonds. Regio- and enantioselective synthesis of these precursors from 1,3-dienes has few precedents in the literature. We have identified reaction conditions and ligands for the synthesis of nearly enantiopure (er >97:3 to >99:1) homoallylic boronate esters via a rarely seen cobalt-catalyzed [4,3]-hydroboration of 1,3-dienes. Monosubstituted or 2,4-disubstituted linear dienes undergo highly efficient, regio- and enanti-oselective hydroboration with HBPin catalyzed by [(L*)Co]+[BARF]–, where L* is typically a chiral bis-phosphine ligand with a narrow bite angle. Several such ligands (examples: i-PrDuPhos, QuinoxP*, Duanphos and, BenzP*) that give high enantioselectivities for the [4,3]-hydroboration product have been identified. In addition, the equally challenging problem of regioselectivity is uniquely solved with a dibenzooxaphosphole ligand, (R,R)-MeO-BIBOP. A cationic cobalt(I) complex of this ligand is a very efficient (TON >960) catalyst, while providing excellent regioselectivities (rr >98:2) and enantioselectiv-ities (er >98:2) for a broad range of substrates. A detailed computational investigation of the reactions using Co-complexes from two widely different ligands (BenzP* and MeO-BIBOP) employing B3LYP-D3 density functional theory provides key insights into the mechanism and the origins of selectivities. The computational results are in full agreement with the exper-iments. For the complexes we have examined thus far, the relative stabilities of the diastereomeric diene-bound complexes [(L*)Co(4-diene)]+ leads to the initial diastereofacial selectivity, which in turn is retained in the subsequent steps, providing exceptional enantioselectivity for the reactions. 

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5. Synthesis of Amides by Transamidation and Amidation of Activated Amides and Esters

   Li, Guangchen; Szostak, Michal (January 2020, Science of synthesis)

   This chapter provides a summary of the recent advances in direct transamidation and amidation reactions of activated amides and esters via transition- metal-catalyzed and transition-metal-free C(acyl)–N and C(acyl)–O bond cleavage as a new disconnection for the synthesis of amide bonds. 

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