A research team led by Prof. Jaesook YUN (Dept. of Chemistry) developed the asymmetric hydroboration of 1,1-disubstituted alkenes by copper catalysis. This research was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (IF: 13.858) as of 4th October, with the title "Copper-Catalyzed Enantioselective Hydroboration of Unactivated 1,1-Disubstituted Alkenes."
This work presents the first highly enantioselective hydroboration of 1,1-dialkylsubstituted alkenes, which has not been solved for last 60 years since the Nobel Laureate H. C. BROWN reported the first asymmetric hydroboration. The method allows facile preparation of enantiomerically-enriched chiral alkyl boron compounds from 1,1-disubstituted alkenes. This work has provided several important clues that could truly be a big step in this research field.
Prof. YUN said, "Our strategy will provide a useful synthetic tool for drug or natural product synthesis." This work has been recently selected for the Highlights of Organic Process Research & Development (IF: 2.857) by a group of industrial chemists who evaluated the work as a versatile and practical solution that should find many uses. The highlight will be published in November, 2017.
This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and the Basic Research Laboratory (BRL) Program.