Making Dimethylamino a Transformable Directing Group by Nickel‐Catalyzed CN Borylation

The dimethylamino (Me₂N) group is arguably the most versatile functional group capable of highly efficient and site‐selective directed aromatic functionalizations at the ortho‐, meta‐, and para‐positions depending on reaction conditions. While the repertoire of Me₂N‐directed reactions is growing at a rapid pace, the lack of a general method to transform this group to other functionalities hampers its wider application in organic synthesis. Here we report nickel‐catalyzed C?N borylations of aryl‐ and benzyl‐dimethylamines that permit the conversion of a huge library of largely underutilized Me₂N‐containing organic molecules into various functional molecules by taking advantage of the wealth of existing C?B functionalization methods.