Highly selective Markovnikov hydroboration of alkyl-substituted terminal alkenes with a phosphine–copper(i) catalyst

A new method has been developed for the Markovnikov hydroboration of alkyl-substituted terminal alkenes. The use of bulky bisphosphine–copper(i) catalyst system resulted in high regioselectivity to afford the corresponding secondary alkylboronates (branch/linear = 92 : 8–97 : 3).