Nickel-Catalyzed 1,2-Arylboration of Vinylarenes.

A novel nickel-catalyzed 1,2-arylboration of vinylarenes is reported. A variety of 2-boryl-1,1-diarylalkanes, which constitute a class of significant pharmacophores, are efficiently prepared from readily available olefins and aryl halides in the presence of bis(pinacolato)diboron under mild reaction conditions. The success of this three-component cascade is mainly attributed to the redox-active nitrogen-based ligand. Moreover, this method exhibits good functional group tolerance and excellent chemo- and stereoselectivity.