Special Collection on Boron Chemistry

Abstract

In this Guest Editorial, Varinder Aggarwal, Zuowei Xie and Hajime Ito introduce the joint EurJOC/AsianJOC special collection on boron chemistry, which features original research and review articles on the synthesis and applications of organoboron compounds from researchers around the world. This EurJOC/AsianJOC joint Special Collection features original research and review articles on the synthesis and applications of organoboron compounds from researchers around the world. From materials chemistry to the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, organoboron compounds continue to play a major role. Although the topic of organoboron chemistry may seem like a fairly mature field, the chemistry of organoboron compounds continues to flourish unabated. Its use in enabling the formation of C−C bonds remains a dominant feature of its chemistry, primarily through Suzuki-Miyaura couplings. But its use in asymmetric synthesis through Matteson-type reactions has also flourished. Much of the utility of organoboron compounds stems from the ability to transform them into a myriad of alternative functional groups, usually with perfect stereospecificity. This occurs because boron is a rather temperamental atom, as although it has 3 bonds to it, it is rather hungry for a 4th, but then when it gets a 4th substituent, one of the groups on boron migrates to a neighboring group which houses a leaving group, returning boron to its trivalent state. The great beauty of boron is that it can orchestrate these movements of groups with high selectivity and perfect precision. With the emergence of new technologies like visible-light photochemistry, and simple-to-set-up electrochemistry new opportunities emerge where these fields are brought to the door of organoboron chemistry and new transformations can be achieved. There is no doubt, that the field of organoboron chemistry will continue to thrive and its use in materials and in synthesis will continue to evolve for the benefit of the whole of society. This collection provides a taster of some of the new directions that the field can move in and the breadth and variety of organoboron research. The opinions expressed in this publication are the view of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the European Journal of Organic Chemistry, the Publisher, Chemistry Europe, or the affiliated editors. Varinder K. Aggarwal studied chemistry at Cambridge University and received his Ph.D. in 1986 under the guidance of Dr. Stuart Warren. After postdoctoral studies (1986-1988) under Prof. Gilbert Stork, Columbia University, he returned to the UK as a Lecturer at Bath University. In 1991 he moved to Sheffield University, where he was promoted to Professor in in 1997. In 2000 he moved to Bristol University where he holds the Chair in Synthetic Chemistry. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012. Zuowei Xie pursued studies in a joint PhD program between Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technische Universität Berlin under co-supervision of Profs. Yao-Zeng Huang, Changtao Qian and H. Schumann, and earned his PhD in 1990. After postdoctoral work (1991-1995) under Prof. C. A. Reed at University of Southern California, he took up an Assistant Professorship at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1995, and then was appointed as a Choh-Ming Li Professor of Chemistry in 2013. He moved to Southern University of Science and Technology in 2022 as a Chair Professor. Prof. Xie has been elected Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2017. Hajime Ito obtained his PhD under the supervision of the late Professor Yoshihiko Ito. He served as an Assistant Professor at Tsukuba University, collaborating with Professor Akira Hosomi, before moving to the Institute for Molecular Science. In 2001, he worked as a research associate in Professor Kim D. Janda's research group at the Scripps Research Institute. The following year, he became an Associate Professor at Hokkaido University, where he worked with Professor Masaya Sawamura. In 2010, he was promoted to full Professor at the same university. In 2018, he was appointed as vice director of WPI-ICReDD at Hokkaido University.