title: DFT studies on the mechanism of the diboration of aldehydes catalyzed by copper(I) boryl complexes.
abstract: The detailed mechanism for the diboration of aldehydes catalyzed by (NHC)Cu(boryl) complexes (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) was studied with the aid of DFT by calculating the relevant intermediates and transition states. The results show that the catalyzed diboration occurs through aldehyde insertion into Cu-B to give a Cu-O-C(boryl) species followed by sigma-bond metathesis with a diboron reagent. It is the "electron-richness", that is, the nucleophilicity of the Cu-boryl bond, which gives rise to a small insertion barrier and determines the direction of insertion. The results of our calculations also explain the formation of the product, observed experimentally, from the stoichiometric reaction of (IPr)Cu-Bpin (IPr = 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene) with mesitylaldehyde. In the absence of a diboron reagent, the insertion intermediate having a Cu-O-C(boryl) linkage isomerizes to the thermodynamically preferred Cu-C-O(boryl) isomer via a boryl migration to the metal-bonded oxygen through an S(E)2-like transition state. We have also studied the catalyzed diboration of 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde, which gives the unexpected reductive coupling product 1,2-di-2-pyridyl-1,2-bis(pinacolboroxy)ethane. The insertion intermediate, which contains a coordinated pyridyl group, isomerizes easily to a 1,2-dihydropyridine form, preventing its metathesis with a diboron reagent to give the expected diboration product as observed for other aldehyde substrates.
authors: Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors: Haitao
authors: H
authors: Zhao
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Dang
authors: Todd B
authors: TB
authors: Marder
authors: Zhenyang
authors: Z
authors: Lin