Synthesis of chemically and configurationally stable monofluoro acylboronates: effect of ligand structure on their formation, properties, and reactivities.

The recent disclosures of two classes of acylborons, potassium acyltrifluoroborates (KATs) and N-methyliminodiacetyl (MIDA) acylboronates, demonstrated that certain acylboron species can be both remarkably stable and uniquely reactive. Here we report new classes of ligands for acylboronates that have a significant influence on the formation, properties, and reactivities of acylboronates. Our systematic investigations identified a class of neutral, monofluoroboronates that can be prepared in a one step, gram-scale fashion from readily accessible KATs. These monofluoroboronates are stable to air, moisture, and silica gel chromatography and can be easily handled without any special precautions. X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, and HPLC studies showed that they are tetravalent, configurationally stable B-chiral acylboronates. Significantly, the ligands on the boronate allow for fine-tuning of the properties and reactivity of acylboronates. In amide-forming ligation with hydroxylamines under aqueous conditions, a considerable difference in reactivity was observed as a function of ligand structure. The solid-state structures suggested that subtle steric and conformational factors modulate the reactivities of the acylboronates.