Boron-Promoted Ether Interchange Reaction: Synthesis of Alkyl Nitroaromatic Ethers from Methoxynitroarenes

The first protocol for boron-promoted ether interchange reaction of methoxynitroarenes was described. A series of methoxynitroarenes and alcohols, including primary, secondary, as well as tertiary alcohols were reacted smoothly in moderate to good yields under the optimized reaction conditions. This protocol constitutes an operationally simple and scalable strategy for the synthesis of alkyl nitroaromatic ethers. Moreover, the new reactivity of boron reagents was discovered.