Arylboration of alkenes by cooperative palladium/copper catalysis.

Arylboration of vinylarenes and methyl crotonate with aryl halides and bis(pinacolato)diboron by cooperative Pd/Cu catalysis has been developed, giving 2-boryl-1,1-diarylethanes and an α-aryl-β-boryl ester in a regioselective manner. The reaction is compatible with a variety of functionalities and amenable to be scaled-up to a gram scale with no detriment to the yield. A short synthesis of the biologically active compound CDP840 was performed using the present reaction as a key step.