Transition metal free catalytic hydroboration of aldehydes and aldimines by amidinato silane.

The transition metal free catalytic hydroboration of aldehydes and ketones is very limited and has not been reported with a well-defined silicon(iv) compound. Therefore, we chose to evaluate the previously reported silicon(iv) hydride [PhC(NtBu)2SiHCl2], (1) as a single component catalyst and found that it catalyzes the reductive hydroboration of a range of aldehydes with pinacolborane (HBpin) under ambient conditions. In addition, compound 1 can catalyze imine hydroboration. DFT calculation was carried out to understand the mechanism.