Isotope incorporation via organoboranes

Organoboranes can be used as precursors to a wide variety of functionally substituted, isotopically labeled compounds. Straightforward boron‐based methods for incorporating short‐lived and stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and the halogens have been developed over a period of 20 years. Application of these methods to biology, agriculture, and medicine has been slowed by the limited availability of boronated precursors containing functional groups appropriate to those fields. The situation has changed markedly with the advent of metal catalyzed boron‐based reactions, which now produce a variety of important boronated materials readily available in the laboratory and from commercial sources. This is especially important in the medical and pharmaceutical communities where short‐lived isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, and the halogens are demonstrating great value in positron and single photon emission tomographic procedures.