The imido-hydrido complex (ArN)Mo(H)(Cl)(PMe3)3 catalyses a variety of hydroboration reactions, including the first example of catalytic addition of HBCat to nitriles to form the bis(borylated) amines RCH2N(BCat)2. The latter species easily undergoes chemoselective coupling with aldehydes R′C(O)H to yield imines RCH2NC(H)R′.
Stoichiometric reaction of complexes (ArN)Mo(H)(Cl)(PMe3)3 (1) and (ArN)Mo(H)2(PMe3)3 (3) with nitriles and HBCat suggest that catalytic hydroboration reactions proceed via a series of agostic borylamido and borylamino complexes.