Borylation of Diazonium Salts by Highly Emissive and Crystalline Carbon Dots in Water

Efficient borylation reaction of diazonium salts in water is realized for the first time by using easily prepared, highly emissive and crystalline carbon dots. Electron-donating and electron-withdrawing groups on diazonium salts were well tolerated with moderate to good conversion efficiency. Compared with widely used metal complexes, organic dyes and quantum dots, the approach presented herein uses carbon dots, which are nontoxic and possess good biological and medicinal compatibility and high reactivity. Therefore, this approach presents a new prospective use for carbon dots in green chemistry.