Sterically Unprotected Nucleophilic Boron Cluster Reagents

A cornerstone of modern synthetic chemistry rests on the ability to manipulate the reactivity of a carbon center by rendering it either electrophilic or nucleophilic. However, accessing a similar reactivity spectrum with boron-based reagents has been significantly more challenging. While classical nucleophilic carbon-based reagents normally do not require steric protection, readily accessible, unprotected boron-based nucleophiles have not yet been realized. Herein, we demonstrate that the bench stable closo-hexaborate cluster anion can engage in a nucleophilic substitution reaction with a wide array of organic and main group electrophiles. The resulting molecules containing B‒C bonds can be further converted to tricoordinate boron species widely used in organic synthesis.