Ruthenium-catalyzed CH silylation of methylboronic acid was achieved by use of 2-(1H-pyrazol-3-yl)aniline as a removable ¡-directing modifier on the boron atom. Crosscoupling of the product, i.e., (phenyldimethylsilyl)methylpinacolborane, with aryl halides proceeded in the presence of a [PdCl 2 (dppf)] catalyst and CsOH as a base.Directed catalytic functionalization of the sp 3 -CH bond is an attractive strategy for the synthesis of functionalized alkanes in organic synthesis.1 Functional groups such as pyridyl, quinolinyl, oxazolinyl, carboxyl, aminocarbonyl, and imino groups are attached to alkanes as directing groups for CH functionalization through arylation, 2 amination, 3 silylation, 4 acetoxylation, 5 halogenation, 6 etc. Despite the remarkable acceleration of the catalytic reaction by the directing groups, the need for their installation in the substrates significantly limits the scope of the reaction. It is likely that the development of "traceless" or "convertible" directing groups will make directed CH activation really useful and applicable to organic synthesis. 7 We have developed removable o-directing groups, which are attached to the boron atoms of arylboronic acids, for Ru-catalyzed o-CH silylation at their sp 2 -carbon atoms. 2-(1H-Pyrazol-3-yl)aniline and anthranilamide form six-membered diazaborine structures 1 and 2 containing NBN linkages upon condensation with arylboronic acids. 8,9 The nitrogen atoms in the attached directing group coordinate to the transition-metal catalysts and enable the CH functionalization at the orthopositions. It would be highly attractive if the strategy could be extended to activation of alkylboronic acids. In particular, such a synthetic strategy is most attractive for the synthesis of ¡-functionalized methylboronic acids (Figure 1), because they are not accessible by hydroboration unlike the higher alkylboronic acids. It has been shown that even strong bases are not able to abstract ¡-hydrogen atoms of methylboronic acid esters.10 It should be noted that, in spite of its potential usefulness, no catalytic CH-functionalization at the ¡-hydrogen of alkylboronic acids has been reported. Herein, we describe ¡-CH silylation of methylboronic acid using an ¡-directing modifier that is attached to the boron atom.Methylboronic acid was condensed with 2-(1H-pyrazol-3-yl)aniline and anthranilamide, giving MeB(pza) (1) and MeB(aam) (2), respectively, in high yields (eqs 1 and 2). A phenol analog MeB(pzp) (3) of 1 was also prepared by the reaction with commercially available 2-(1H-pyrazol-3-yl)phenol in high yield (eq 1). The modified methylboronic acids 13 were subjected to Ru-catalyzed reaction with triorganosilanes in the presence of norbornene as a hydrogen scavenger (Table 1).11 With the [RhCl(cod)] 2 catalyst, a trace amount of the expected ¡-silylation product was detected by 1 H NMR (Entry 1). Ruthenium catalysts were found to be more effective for ¡-silylation. The [RuH 2 (CO)(PPh 3 ) 3 ] catalyst, which served as the best catalyst in the o-CH silylation of PZA-and ...