Site-Selective C-C/C-C Cross-Coupling Reactions Using Frustrated Lewis Pairs.

The donor-acceptor ability of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) has led to widespread applications in organic synthesis. Single electron transfer from a donor Lewis base to an acceptor Lewis acid can generate a frustrated radical pair (FRP) depending on the substrate and energy required (thermal or photochemical) to promote an FLP into an FRP system. Herein, we report the C-C cross-coupling reaction of aryl esters with terminal alkynes using the B(CF)/MesP FLP. Significantly, when the 1-ethynyl-4-vinylbenzene substrate was employed, the exclusive formation of C-C cross-coupled products was observed. However, when 1-ethynyl-2-vinylbenzene was employed, solvent-dependent site-selective C-C or C-C cross-coupling resulted. The nature of these reaction pathways and their selectivity has been investigated by extensive electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies, kinetic studies, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations both to elucidate the mechanism of these coupling reactions and to explain the solvent-dependent site selectivity.