Hydration via Hydroboration-Oxidation

Key Questions

  • Answer:

    Hydroboration-oxidation is a method of making alcohols from alkenes.

    Explanation:

    It involves the addition of #"BH"_3# to an alkene, followed by oxidation with alkaline hydrogen peroxide to form an alcohol.

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    The reaction is a Markovnikov addition of #"BH"_3# to the alkene

    On oxidation of the boron intermediate, the #"OH"# group ends up on the less substituted carbon.

    This is opposite to the position of the #"OH"# group in the acid-catalyzed Markovnikov addition of water to an alkene, so the reaction is often called the anti-Markovnikov addition of water to an alkene.

  • Answer:

    The borane-THF complex (BTHF) is used for hydroboration for reasons of safety and convenience.

    Explanation:

    The active ingredient is borane, #"BH"_3#, but borane is a highly toxic gas.

    Borane exists naturally as the dimer #"B"_2"H"_6# (diborane), but diborane mixes easily with air and forms explosive mixtures.

    Also, it ignites spontaneously in moist air at room temperature.

    In a solution in THF, borane exists as a loose Lewis acid-base complex. This allows boron to have an octet and makes the reagent more stable.

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    The solution is commercially available in a 1 mol/L concentration in volumes from 25 to 800 mL.

    It is much more convenient to work with the solution than with a gas. Even so, the solution must be stored at 2 to 8 °C, and it must have a stabilizer added.

    Borane forms a more stable and more soluble Lewis acid-base complex with dimethyl sulfide:

    #"H"_3stackrelcolor(blue)("-")("B")"-"stackrelcolor(blue)(+)("S")("CH"_3)_2#

    It is available in concentrations of 2, 5, and 10 mol/L and in volumes from 25 mL to 18 L.

    That should make it a more convenient reagent than the BTHF complex.

    There is only one problem: It has the highly disagreeable smell of rotten cabbage!

  • It's similar to for alkenes, but besides creating #[B(OH)_4]^(-)#, #H_2O#, and #OOH^(-)# (hydrogen peroxide's conjugate base), instead of getting the three #mols# of an alcohol, you have an enol. This enol can undergo keto-enol tautomerization.

    In this case it is in basic (base-ic) conditions, with #M^(+)OH^(-)# available within the reaction vessel.

    An example of this is:

    • First, the enol's #R-OH# donates its proton to the base (#OH^(-)# from #M^(+)OH^(-)#) to form an enolate. (#H_2O# forms, now)
    • Then, the enolate's oxygen moves its electrons down to form a #pi# bond (double bond = 1 #sigma# + 1 #pi#) and the #pi# bond down at the bottom donates its pi electrons to the resultant #H_2O# that just formed, grabbing a proton off and reforming the base (#OH^(-)# from #M^(+)OH^(-)#).

    You then form a ketone or aldehyde, depending on the location of the triple bond. Also, remember that hydroboration is anti-Markovnikov.

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