Dialkylation of Vinyl Arenes under Cobalt Catalysis
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Updated: Oct 31, 2026

Synthesis of a Borylated Ibuprofen Derivative Through Suzuki Cross-Coupling and Alkene Boracarboxylation Reactions
Published on: November 30, 2022
Jiabin Zhang1, Yixuan Zhao1, Dian Peng2
1Suzhou Key Laboratory of Pathogen Bioscience and Anti-infective Medicine, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou215123, China.
Abstract:
Herein, a directing group and ligand-free cobalt-catalyzed alkene dialkylation with various alkyl halides and alkylzinc pivalates is reported. This method is distinguished by its broad scope, synthetic simplicity, and excellent regio- and chemoselectivities, thus providing a modular platform for the rapid synthesis of C(sp3)-rich carbogenic skeletons via 2-fold C(sp3)-C(sp3)/C(sp3)-C(sp3) bond formation. Moreover, the controllable transformations with those polyhaloalkanes, such as simple C1 synthons of CF2Br2, CCl4, or CBr4, as well as their derivatives are of special interest, which should find potential applications in both synthetic and medicinal chemistry.
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Reduction of Alkynes to cis-Alkenes: Catalytic Hydrogenation
Like alkenes, alkynes can be reduced to alkanes in the presence of transition metal catalysts such as Pt, Pd, or Ni. The reaction involves two sequential syn additions of hydrogen via a cis-alkene intermediate.

