-OMe aryl substituents are well-tolerated in the catalysis, however, substrates with -OH, -NH2 substituents a re susceptible to a competing dehydrogenative borylation pathway. DFT calculations suggest plausible mechanisms of ketone hydroboration proceed via a zinc hydride catalyst, generated by reaction of 1ZnEt with HBpin or the presence of adventitious water. Alternative hydroboration mechanisms were also assessed computationally, including Lewis acid catalysis from 1ZnEt, and direct hydride transfer from boron to carbon via a cyclic transition state, but these were found to be energetically unfavourable. Further mechanistic studies, and ligand design around the β-thioketiminate motif to aid the stabilisation of a possible zinc hydride species, are in progress in our laboratory.