A new look at boron enolate chemistry: aminative C-C bond formation using diaminoboron enolate with aldehyde.

Unlike ordinary boron enolates, such as dialkylboryl (R(2)B) and dialkoxyboryl ((RO)(2)B) derivatives, reactions of diaminoboryl ((R(2)N)(2)B) enolates with aldehydes proceed with the concurrent transfer of amino and enoxy groups from the boron to the aldehyde carbon, yielding beta-amino ketones in a selective manner.