Vinylboronates play a pivotal role in modern organic synthesis as essential synthons in selective carbon-carbon or carbon-heteroatom bond formation reactions which are important especially in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and cosmetic industries. Catalytic hydroboration of alkynes with hydroborates is a powerful tool for generating vinylboronates (Scheme 1) and this transformation usually occurs via syn-addition of a B-H moiety to yield (E)-vinylboronate esters. Recently, a new generation of catalysts for selective alkyne hydroboration was reported. They were based on earthabundant first-row transition metal complexes with tridentate nitrogen-containing ligands and have attracted considerable attention. , These bench-stable precatalysts required activation, usually using alkali metal trialkylborohydrides, to achieve high catalytic activity. Scheme 1. Theoretically possible products of hydroboration of terminal alkynes.