Catalytic alkane C-H borylation + retro-hydroboration: towards a lower energy route to convert alkanes into terminal olefins

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Alkane upgrading is a major industrial goal (for biomass, waste and fossil fuel derived alkanes) that can drastically enhance the efficiency of the chemical industry. In phase 1 of this proof of concept study we aim to demonstrate that Earth-abundant electrophilic metal catalysts can activate hydroboranes to perform sp3 C-H borylation to generate alkylboranes. While alkylboranes are useful in their own right as versatile synthetic intermediates, phase 2 of this project will look at one specific application of alkylboranes - the thermal conversion of alkylboranes to alkenes by dehydroboration (a process that regenerates the hydroborane for potential use in phase 1). Success would establish the feasibility of a low energy route (relative to commercialised direct alkane dehydrogenation currently performed on a large scale) to convert alkanes to terminal alkenes which is a significant and currently unmet challenge in the chemical industry.