Ir(COD)(NHC)Cl complexes provide significant insight into the catalytic processes underpinning SABRE hyperpolarization.

Chiral cations have been used extensively as organocatalysts, but their application to rendering transition metal–catalyzed processes enantioselective remains rare. This is despite the success of the analogous charge-inverted strategy in which cationic metal complexes are paired with chiral anions. We report here a strategy to render a common bipyridine ligand anionic and pair its iridium complexes with a chiral cation derived from quinine. We have applied these ion-paired complexes to long-range asymmetric induction in the desymmetrization of the geminal diaryl motif, located on a carbon or phosphorus center, by enantioselective C–H borylation. In principle, numerous common classes of ligand could likewise be amenable to this approach.

Selective functionalization at the meta position of arenes remains a significant challenge. In this work, we demonstrate that a single anionic bipyridine ligand bearing a remote sulfonate group enables selective iridium‐catalyzed borylation of a range of common amine‐containing aromatic molecules at the arene meta position. We propose that this selectivity is the result of a key hydrogen bonding interaction between the substrate and catalyst. The scope of this meta‐selective borylation is demonstrated on amides derived from benzylamines, phenethylamines and phenylpropylamines; amine‐containing building blocks of great utility in many applications.

The elaboration of simple arenes in order to access more complex substitution patterns is a crucial endeavor for synthetic chemists, given the central role that aromatic rings play in all manner of important molecules. Classical methods are now routinely used alongside stoichiometric organometallic approaches and, most recently, transition metal catalysis in the range of methodologies that are available to elaborate arene C-H bonds. Regioselectivity is an important consideration when selecting a method and, of all those available, it is arguably those that target the meta position that are fewest in number. The rapid development of transition metal-catalysed C-H bond functionalisation over the last few decades has opened new possibilities for meta-selective C-H functionalisation through the diverse reactivity of transition metals and their compatibility with a wide range of directing groups. The pace of discovery of such processes has grown rapidly in the last five years in particular and it is the purpose of this review to examine these but in doing so to place the focus on metals other than palladium, the specific contributions of which have been very recently reviewed elsewhere. It is hoped this will serve to highlight to the reader the breadth of current strategies and mechanisms that have been used to tackle this challenge, which may inspire further progress in the field.

Ion pairing has unexplored potential as a key catalyst−substrate interaction for controlling regioselectivity and site-selectivity in transitionmetal catalysis, particularly in the area of C−H activation. However, there is a significant perceived challenge that has meant that few have investigated this approach to datethat of the low directionality, which could present an unsurmountable challenge if seeking positional selectivity on flexible substrates. Herein, we demonstrate that even flexible substrates with several freely rotatable bonds undergo ion pair-directed C−H borylation with good to excellent levels of regiocontrol for the arene meta-position. Furthermore, we demonstrate that in specially designed competition substrates, ion pair direction prevails over competing hydrogen bond direction. We anticipate that these findings will inspire the greater incorporation of ion-pairing into site-selective catalytic strategies.