Organic Chemistry Seminar: Huadong Wang | Fundan University

Boron cations in the activation of C–H and C–C bonds

The activation of aryl C–H and C–C bonds generally relies on transition-metal complexes. In recent years, frustrated Lewis pair (FLP) chemistry has enabled the development of numerous metal-free catalytic systems for aryl C–H bond activation. Nevertheless, such systems are limited to electron-rich arenes. Recently, we have prepared a series of o-carboranyl-substituted boron cations and found that these highly Lewis-acidic boron cations can catalyze C–H borylation/silylation of unactivated arenes, as well as the hydrogenolysis of C(aryl)–C(alkyl) bonds in alkylarenes. In this lecture, the reaction mechanisms of these transformations and the related boron-cation chemistry will also be discussed.