Transition-Metal-Free Borylation of Alkyl Iodides via a Radical Mechanism

We describe an operationally simple transition-metal-free borylation of alkyl iodides. This method uses commercially available diboron reagents as the boron source and exhibits excellent functional group compatibility. Furthermore, a diverse range of primary and secondary alkyl iodides could be effectively transformed to the corresponding alkylboronates in excellent yield. Mechanistic investigations suggest that this borylation reaction proceeds through a single-electron transfer mechanism featuring the generation of an alkyl radical intermediate.