anti-hydromagnesiation of aryl alkynes was established using 1 : 1 molar combination of sodium hydride (NaH) and magnesium iodide (MgI2) without the aid of any transition metal catalysts. The resulting alkenylmagnesium intermediates could be trapped with a series of electrophiles, thus providing facile accesses to stereochemically well-defined functionalized alkenes. Mechanistic studies by experimental
Alkynyl(aryl)(diorganyl)borates, anionic tetrahedral boron compounds, reacted with allylic bromides in the presence of a palladium(0) catalyst to produce (diorganyl)(trisubstituted alkenyl)boranes. Allylation took place at the alkynyl carbon β to boron, inducing 1,2-migration of the aryl group on the anionic boron center to the α-carbon.