Diastereodivergent electrophilic trapping of α-boryl lithium derivatives

• Tereza Pavlíčková,
• Noam Orbach and
• Ilan Marek

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 882–887, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.68

• their stereoselective reactions remains challenging. Here, we examine the diastereoselective generation and trapping of α-boryl lithium species formed by ring opening of substituted iodomethylcyclopropanes. After lithium–iodine exchange and selective C–C bond cleavage, these intermediates react with a

• results suggest that the stereochemical outcome is independent of the initial configuration at C2 and is instead dictated by conformational preferences of the α-boryl lithium intermediate. A simplified steric model is proposed in which lithium coordination induces a pseudo-chelated structure that controls

• facial selectivity during electrophilic trapping. These findings expand the synthetic utility of α-boryl lithium intermediates and provide insight into the origins of their diastereoselectivity. Keywords: α-boryl lithium; diastereoselectivity; (iodomethyl)cyclopropylboronic esters; ring-opening