Hiyama coupling

The Hiyama coupling is a palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of organosilanes with organic halides used in organic chemistry to form carbon–carbon bonds (C-C bonds). This reaction was discovered in 1988 by Tamejiro Hiyama and Yasuo Hatanaka as a method to form carbon-carbon bonds synthetically with chemo- and regioselectivity. The Hiyama coupling has been applied to the synthesis of various natural products.The Hiyama coupling was developed to combat the issues associated with other organometallic reagents. The initial reactivity of organosilicon was not actually first reported by Hiyama, as Kumada reported a coupling reaction using organofluorosilicates shown below. Organosilanes were then discovered, by Hiyama, to have reactivity when activated by a fluoride source. This reactivity, when combined with a palladium salt, creates a carbon-carbon bond with an electrophillic carbon, like an organic halide. Compared to the inherent issues of well-used organometalics reagents, such as organomagnesium (Grignard Reagents) and organocopper reagents, which are very reactive and are known to have low chemoselectivity, enough to destroy functional groups on both coupling partners, organosilicon compounds are inactive. Other organometallic reagents using metals such as zinc, tin, and boron, reduce the reactivity issue, but have other problems associated with each reagent. Organozinc reagents are moisture sensitive, organotin compounds are toxic, and organoboron reagents are not readily available, are expensive, and aren't often stable. Organosilanes are readily available compounds that, upon activation (much like organotin or organoboron compounds) from fluoride or a base, can react with organohalides to form C-C bonds in a chemo- and regioselective manner. The reaction first reported was used to couple easily made (and activated) organosilicon nucleophiles and organohalides (electrophiles) in the presence of a palladium catalyst. Since this discovery, work has been done by various groups to expand the scope of this reaction and to 'fix' the issues with this first coupling, such as the need for fluoride activation of the organosilane.The organosilane is activated with fluoride (as some sort of salt such as TBAF or TASF) or a base to form a pentavalent silicon center which is labile enough to allow for the breaking of a C-Si bond during the transmetalation step. The general scheme to form this key intermediate is shown below. This step occurs in-situ or at the same time as the catalytic cycle in the reaction. The Hiyama coupling can be applied to the formation of Csp2-Csp2 (e.g. aryl–aryl) bonds as well as Csp2-Csp3 (e.g. aryl–alkyl) bonds. Good synthetic yields are obtained with couplings of aryl halides, vinyl halides, and allylic halides and organo iodides afford the best yields. The scope of this reaction was expanded to include closure of medium-sized rings by Scott E. Denmark.One modification of the Hiyama coupling utilizes a silacyclobutane ring and a fluoride source that is hydrated as shown below. This mimics the use of an alkoxysilane/organosilanol rather than the use of alkylsilane. The mechanism of this reaction, using a fluoride source, allowed for the design of future reactions that can avoid the use of the fluoride source.