Base-Catalyzed Remote Hydrogermylation of Olefins

Abstract

Although remote functionalization has emerged as a powerful strategy for modifying unactivated sites that are traditionally challenging to functionalize, there has been no remote hydrogermylation known to date. This work reports the first remote hydrogermylation of alkenes, achieved through a rare base-catalyzed approach-completely free of added transition metal catalysts. The methodology is operationally simple, versatile, and capable of achieving up to 8-carbon chain walks, overcoming the previous two-carbon limit of base-mediated processes.