Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry (Mar 2023)

Group 13 exchange and transborylation in catalysis

  • Dominic R. Willcox,
  • Stephen P. Thomas

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.19.28
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 1
pp. 325 – 348

Abstract

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Catalysis is dominated by the use of rare and potentially toxic transition metals. The main group offers a potentially sustainable alternative for catalysis, due to the generally higher abundance and lower toxicity of these elements. Group 13 elements have a rich catalogue of stoichiometric addition reactions to unsaturated bonds but cannot undergo the redox chemistry which underpins transition-metal catalysis. Group 13 exchange reactions transfer one or more groups from one group 13 element to another, through σ-bond metathesis; where boron is both of the group 13 elements, this is termed transborylation. These redox-neutral processes are increasingly being used to render traditionally stoichiometric group 13-mediated processes catalytic and develop new catalytic processes, examples of which are the focus of this review.

Keywords