What is "hydroboration"

n. (context chemistry English) the production or organoboranes by the addition of diborane to unsaturated organic compounds

In chemistry, hydroboration refers to the addition of a hydrogen-boron bond to C-C, C-N, and C-O double bonds, as well as C-C triple bonds. This chemical reaction is useful in the organic synthesis of organic compounds. The development of this technology and the underlying concepts were recognized by the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Herbert C. Brown. He shared the Nobel prize in chemistry with Georg Wittig in 1979 for his pioneering research on organoboranes as important synthetic intermediates.

Hydroboration produces organoborane compounds that react with a variety of reagents to produce useful compounds, such as alcohols, amines, alkyl halides. The most widely known reaction of the organoboranes is oxidation to produce alcohols typically by hydrogen peroxide. This type of reaction has promoted research on hydroboration because of its mild condition and a wide scope of olefins tolerated. Another research subtheme is metal-catalysed hydroboration.