Yang and Zhong-Qian’s paper describing the copper-catalyzed conversion of the terminal alkynes to stereodefined 1,1-diborylalkenes has been accepted in Org. Lett. and appears in final form online today. Mechanistically, the reaction involves a tandem sequence of dehydrogenative C(sp)–H borylation with HBdan followed by hydroboration with HBpin with copper playing a dual role as catalyst for both steps. Preparatively, the method enables one-step access to valuable alkyl- and aryl-substituted 1,1-diborylalkenes, which can then be further diversified through sequential cross-coupling. Congrats to postdoc Yang and undergrad co-author Zhong-Qian!

For a link to the paper, click here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.orglett.0c01901

This work was first described in April in a pre-print that was deposited on ChemRxiv: https://chemrxiv.org/articles/Synthesis_of_Stereodefined_1_1-Diborylalkenes_via_Copper-Catalyzed_Diboration_of_Terminal_Alkynes/12133404