Cobalt‐Catalysed, Ligand‐Controlled Regiodivergent Alkene Hydrosilylation

Abstract Alkene hydrosilylation is amongst the largest industrial homogenous catalysis processes. Cobalt catalysis offers a sustainable alternative to commonly used platinum catalysts to achieve this transformation. Using two bisiminopyridine cobalt(II) catalysts the regiodivergent hydrosilylation of alkenes has been developed. Variation of pre‐catalyst activator and ligand substituents were investigated to enable the controlled, regiodivergent hydrosilylation of both aryl‐ and alkyl‐substituted alkenes with phenylsilane. In contrast to other regiodivergence strategies, excellent regioselectivity for either isomer was achieved using the same ligand class but differing by a single methyl group (ethyl vs iso propyl).