Design, Synthesis and Functionalization of Geminal and Vicinal Organometallic Compounds

Abstract

This dissertation presents the development of catalytic enantioselective synthesis and selective functionalization of geminal or vicinal borylsilanes and bis(boronates). In the first chapter, a modular approach to the catalytic synthesis of enantioenriched anti-1,2-borylsilanes will be described, which is enabled by the stereospecific 1,2-metallate shift that occurs during Pd-catalyzed conjunctive cross-coupling reaction. In the second chapter, the Cu-catalyzed site-selective cross-coupling of vicinal bis(boronates) to an array of electrophiles is developed to provide a new method to construct complex boron-containing products from terminal alkenes. A dramatic rate acceleration in transmetalation to copper is enabled by the neighboring activating boronate group in the substrate. Mechanistic experiments suggest that the formation of a chelated cyclic ate complex may play a role in facilitating the transmetalation. As a follow-up project, the site-selective cross-coupling of vicinal diborylsilanes is also investigated. A Pt-catalyzed enantioselective hydrosilylation of (Z)-1,2-diborylethylene provides access to a vicinal 1,2-diboryl-1-silylalkane that can be used in catalytic cross-coupling reactions. Depending on the catalyst employed and the electrophile class, the coupling reaction can occur at either the α or β carbon relative to the silane center. In the last chapter, a practical method is developed to prepare a TiO2 supported gold nanoparticle catalyst that facilitates the cis-diboration of terminal alkynes. The resulting products can undergo a practical Cu-catalyzed site-selective cross-coupling with proton or other non-aryl/alkenyl electrophiles to yield α-substituted alkenyl boronates with excellent yield and site-selectivity.