Regio- and Stereoselective Syn-Boronation of Terminal Alkynes Catalyzed by Copper Nanospheres on Graphene Nanosheets

Evenly distributed copper nanospheres on reduced graphene oxide were prepared and showed high heterogeneous catalytic activity in converting varying terminal alkynes into (E)-β-styrene boronate esters. The excellent catalytic performance was achieved through the synergistic catalysis between Cu nanospheres and rGO. This work not only is a supplement for preparing (E)-β-styrene boronate esters but also provides a way for the rational designing of high-performance graphene-based catalysts. Meanwhile, the advancement of graphene-based nanomaterials will be motivated to promote their applications in the development of green catalytic chemistry.

Zirconium-Catalyzed Atom-Economical Synthesis of 1,1-Diborylalkanes from Terminal and Internal Alkenes

A general and atom‐economical synthesis of 1,1‐diborylalkanes from alkenes and a borane without the need for an additional H₂ acceptor is reported for the first time. The key to our success is the use of an earth‐abundant zirconium‐based catalyst, which allows a balance of self‐contradictory reactivities (dehydrogenative boration and hydroboration) to be achieved. Our method avoids using an excess amount of another alkene as an H₂ acceptor, which was required in other reported systems. Furthermore, substrates such as simple long‐chain aliphatic alkenes that did not react before also underwent 1,1‐diboration in our system. Significantly, the unprecedented 1,1‐diboration of internal alkenes enabled the preparation of 1,1‐diborylalkanes.