Base Metal Catalysts for Photochemical C-H Borylation That Utilize Metal-Metal Cooperativity

Heterobimetallic Cu-Fe and Zn-Fe complexes catalyze C-H borylation, a transformation that previously required noble metal catalysts. The optimal catalyst, (IPr)Cu-FeCp(CO)(2), exhibits efficient activity at 5 mol% loading under photochemical conditions, shows only minimal decrease in activity upon reuse, and is able to catalyze borylation of a variety of arene substrates. Stoichiometric reactivity studies are consistent with a proposed mechanism that exploits metal-metal cooperativity and showcases bimetallic versions of the classical organometallic processes, oxidative addition and reductive elimination.