By Wendy Plump
Department of Chemistry
Thursday, Dec. 07, 2023

The Chirik Group is chipping away at one of the great challenges of metal-catalyzed C–H functionalization with a new method that uses a cobalt catalyst to differentiate between bonds in fluoroarenes, functionalizing them based on their intrinsic electronic properties.

In a paper published this week in Science, researchers show they are able to bypass the need for steric control and directing groups to induce cobalt-catalyzed borylation that is meta-selective. 

The lab’s research showcases an innovative approach driven by deep insights into organometallic chemistry that have been at the heart of its mission for over a decade. In this case, the team drilled down into how transition metals break C–H bonds, uncovering a method that could have vast implications for the synthesis of medicines, natural products, and materials.

And their method is fast – comparable in speed to those that rely on iridium.

The research is outlined in “Kinetic and Thermodynamic Control of C(sp²)–H Activation Enable Site-Selective Borylation,” by lead author Jose Roque, a former postdoc in the Chirik Group; postdoc Alex Shimozono; and P.I. Paul Chirik, the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Chemistry, with former lab members Tyler Pabst, Gabriele Hierlmeier, and Paul Peterson…

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