New horizons for organoboron and organosilicon chemistry with triple elementalization - Phys.org

In recent years, organic chemicals containing boron (B) and silicon (Si) have found applications in various fields, including optoelectronics and pharmaceuticals.

As a result, scientists are actively looking for new ways to leverage these versatile chemical tools as well as produce more kinds of organosilicon and organoboron compounds.

As explained in their most recent study published in Nature Communications, the team has developed a method that allows them to modify quinolines, small organic molecules with an aromatic nitrogen heterocycle, with B-, Si-, and carbon-containing groups simultaneously.

Finally, by stimulating and eventually breaking the Si-B bond with blue light, the B and Si groups reorganize in a predictable fashion, attaching themselves at different locations within the nitrogen heterocycle.

Most notably, the proposed method provided excellent stereo-, chemo-, and regio-selectivity, meaning that the reaction produced the desired compound with high specificity.

More information: Shiho Ishigaki et al, Dearomative triple elementalization of quinolines driven by visible light, Nature Communications(2023).