Selective borylation of methane by an iron(iii) dihydride catalyst

Chemoselective borylation of methane offers a promising route to organoboron synthesis. We report a porous zirconium UiO-MOF confined mononuclear iron(III) dihydride catalyst enabling efficient monoborylation of CH₄ using HBpin at 185 °C to afford methyl boronic acid pinacol ester in 85% yield with a cumulative TON of up to 921.