Metal-Free Temperature-Controlled Regiodivergent Borylative Cyclizations of Enynes: BCl 3 -Promoted Skeletal Rearrangement.

Metal-free borylative cyclization of biphenyl-embedded 1,3,5-trien-7-ynes in the presence of simple and inexpensive BCl 3 provided synthetically useful borylated building blocks. The outcome of the process depends on the reaction temperature, with borylated phenanthrenes obtained at 60 °C and phenanthrene-fused borylated cyclobutanes formed at 0 °C. Based on DFT calculations, a mechanism for these novel transformations has been proposed, which involves an uncommon skeletal rearrangement, including migration of a methyl group and alkyne fragmentation, unprecedented in BCl 3 -promoted cyclization reactions.