Regiodivergent and Stereospecific Aziridine Opening by Copper-Catalyzed Addition of Silicon Grignard Reagents

Copper-Catalyzed Highly Enantioselective Addition of a Silicon Nucleophile to 3-Substituted 2H-Azirines Using an Si-B Reagent

3-Substituted 2H-azirines can be considered strained cyclic ketimines, and highly enantioselective addition reactions of silicon nucleophiles to either acyclic or cyclic ketimines have been elusive so far. The present work closes this gap for those azirines by means of a copper-catalyzed silylation using a silyl boronic ester as a latent silicon nucleophile. The resulting C-silylated, unprotected (N-H) aziridines are obtained in high yields and with excellent enantioselectivities and can be further converted into valuable compounds with hardly any erosion of the enantiomeric excess.

Ligand relay catalysis for cobalt-catalyzed sequential hydrosilylation and hydrohydrazidation of terminal alkynes

Sequential double hydrofunctionalizationalization of alkynes is a powerful method to construct useful vicinal compounds. Herein, we report a cobalt-catalyzed sequential hydrosilylation/hydrohydrazidation of alkynes to afford 1,2-N,Si compounds via ligand relay catalysis. A phenomenon of ligand relay is found that the tridentate anionic N-ligand (OPAQ) could capture the cobalt ion from bidentate neutral P-ligand (Xantphos) cobalt complex. This protocol uses three abundant chemical feedstocks, alkynes, silanes, and diazo compounds, and also features operationally simple, mild conditions, low catalyst loading (1 mol%), and excellent functional group tolerance. The 1,2-N,Si compounds can be easily further derivatized to afford various substituted silane derivatives via Si-H functionalization, alcohols via Fleming-Tamao oxidation, free amines and amides via N-N bond cleavage and protection. The asymmetric reaction could also be carried out to afford chiral products with up to 86% ee. The ligand relay has been supported by control experiments and absorption spectra.

In organic chemistry, performing sequential catalytic cycles with a single catalyst improves efficiency. Here the authors present a methodology to functionalize alkynes with nitrogen and silicon atoms, through two catalytic cycles with a homogeneous cobalt catalyst, which is bound to different ligands in each cycle.

Activation of the Si–B interelement bond related to catalysis

Covering the past seven years, this review comprehensively summarises the latest progress in the preparation and application of Si–B reagents, including the discussion of relevant reaction mechanisms.

Recent advances in Cu-catalyzed C(sp3)-Si and C(sp3)-B bond formation

Numerous reactions generating C-Si and C-B bonds are in focus owing to the importance of incorporating silicon or boron into new or existing drugs, in addition to their use as building blocks in cross-coupling reactions en route to various targets of both natural and unnatural origins. In this review, recent protocols relying on copper-catalyzed sp3 carbon-silicon and carbon-boron bond-forming reactions are discussed.

Copper-catalyzed asymmetric silyl addition to alkenyl-substituted N-heteroarenes

Asymmetric conjugate addition of PhMe₂SiBPin to a wide range of N-heteroaryl alkenes proceeded in the presence of a copper catalyst coordinated with a chiral phosphoramidite ligand to afford useful β-silyl N-heteroarenes in high yields and ees.

Catalyst-controlled regiodivergent ring-opening C(sp3)-Si bond-forming reactions of 2-arylaziridines with silylborane enabled by synergistic palladium/copper dual catalysis

A Pd/Cu catalyst-controlled regiodivergent and stereospecific ring-opening C(sp³)–Si cross-coupling of 2-arylaziridines with silylborane has been developed and a new tandem reaction to give another regioisomer of silylamine has been discovered.

A catalyst-controlled regiodivergent and stereospecific ring-opening C(sp³)–Si cross-coupling of 2-arylaziridines with silylborane enabled by synergistic Pd/Cu dual catalysis has been developed. Just by selecting a suitable combination of catalysts, the regioselectivity of the coupling is completely switched to efficiently provide two regioisomers of β-silylamines (i.e., β-silyl-α-phenethylamines and β-silyl-β-phenethylamines) in good to high yields. Furthermore, a slight modification of the reaction conditions caused a drastic change in reaction pathways, leading to a tandem reaction to produce another regioisomer of silylamine (i.e., α-silyl-β-phenethylamines) in an efficient and selective manner.