Boron replaces expensive heavy metal by forming complexes with olefins, reducing toxicity and cost

https://phys.org/news/2025-09-boron-metal-complexes-olefins-toxicity.html

"metal-mimetic" properties of main group elements such as boron, which form so-called π complexes with olefins, which are similar in their properties and behavior to the complexes of transition metals with olefins... these compounds are intermediates in many large-scale catalytic processes in industry... opens up a whole new area of the periodic table for π coordination chemistry, including the possibility of using main group elements as industrial catalysts for functionalization reactions of unsaturated hydrocarbons"