A nickel-catalyzed anti-carbometallative cyclization of alkyne-azides with organoboronic acids: synthesis of 2,3-diarylquinolines

An anti-carbonickelative cyclization via reversible alkenylnickel E/Z isomerization of 2-azido phenyl propargyl alcohols with aryl boronic acids is achieved using Ni(acac)(2) as the catalyst to access 2,3-diaryl quinolines. It represents a rare example of trapping the vinyl metal intermediate with a nitrogen center, a non-carbon center electrophile.