H${}_2$-acceptorless dehydrogenative boration and transfer boration of alkenes enabled by zirconium catalyst

The first example of an efficient and direct dehydrogenative boration of alkenes for vinyl boronate ester synthesis was achieved using a zirconium catalyst. Our methodology avoids using precious transition metals, additional hydrogen acceptors, high temperatures, and long reaction times, which were required to overcome the reducing ability of borane, to give alkyl boronate esters. Detailed mechanistic studies revealed a reversible reaction pathway and further suggested applying the zirconium complex as a "shuttle catalyst" for transfer boration, which thus sidesteps the use of relatively sensitive borane. (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)