When two reactions become one

Merging two fundamental reactions of organoboron compounds provides a new platform for catalysis [Also see Report by Zhang et al. ] Organoboron compounds are among the most widely used reagents in organic synthesis and underpin many of the most frequently practiced and important reactions in synthetic organic chemistry ( 1 ). These reactions are based on specific mechanistic events that are distinctive to the reaction class. Catalytic processes are usually driven by transmetallation to transition metal complexes (passing a ligand from boron to the metal), whereas stoichiometric processes are based on metallate rearrangement mechanisms—ligands undergoing redistribution around a boron center—initiated by an incoming nucleophile. On page 70 of this issue, Zhang et al. ( 2 ) report an alternative transmetallation process that harmoniously merges these usually independent mechanisms, and they demonstrate its application within a multicomponent catalytic reaction that generates specific chiral products.