Shi surprises some with contra-electronegative carbomagnesiation
Citation: Ye, X.; Sun, B.; Shi, S.-L. Contra-electronegativity transmetallation unlocks alkene carbomagnesiation to access quaternary stereocenters. Nat. Chem. 2026 , ASAP. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-026-02073-1 Summary Figure: Background: Transmetalation (spelled with one L, by the way) is one of the elementary steps of organometallic compounds. It is one of the least studied elementary steps due to the difficulty developing reliable mechanistic probes. Several mechanisms (with different stereochemical outcomes) are known: (Taken from Liang, H.; Zhang, X.; Morken J. P. Stereospecific cross-coupling reactions: Programmed assembly of chiral molecules by reaction of chiral reagents. Sci. Adv. 2025 , 11 , eadz3901. https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/sciadv.adz3901 James Morken has some great chemistry that will be highlighted in the next blog post!) Additionally, it is known that transmetalation is thermodynamically favorable ...