Having established the optimized reaction conditions, the generality of direct C3-alkylation of different substituted quinoxalin-2(1
H)-ones with alkylboronic acids was examined. First, as shown in
Scheme 2, a series of
N-protected quinoxalin-2(1
H)-ones, including
N-methyl,
N-ethyl,
N-benzyl,
N-acetyate,
N-2-oxo-2-phenylethyl,
N-allylic, and
N-propynyl, could react with cyclohexylboronic acid (
2a) and the corresponding products (
3a–
3g) were obtained in good to excellent yields. Then, a wide range of substituted 1-methylquinoxalin-2(1
H)-ones were explored, and to our pleasure, the substrates with electron-donating groups such as MeO, Me or electron-withdrawing groups such as F, Cl, CF
3, CN, CO
2Me, NO
2, reacted smoothly to generate the anticipated products (
3h–
3r) in high yields. In addition, quinoxalin-2(1
H)-one without
N-protected group was also matched with the reaction, providing the product (
3s) in 72% yield. It is worth noting that
2H-benzo[
b][1, 4]oxazin-2-one also underwent the alkylation reaction to generate the product
3t in 75% yield. Encouraged by these results, reactions of various alkylboronic acids (
2) with
1a were carried out, and the results were also outlined in
Scheme 2. When cyclopropylboronic acid, cyclobutylboronic acid, cyclopentylboronic acid, isopropylboronic acid,
sec-butylboronic acid and
tert-butylboronic acid were used as the alkyl precursors, all reactions proceeded smoothly to produce the expected products (
3u−
3z) in 56%–80% yields. Employing
tert-butylboronic acid as one of the starting material, the reaction occurred in moderate yield, steric hindrance has no obvious effect on the reaction. However, propylboronic acid and phenylboronic acid could not deliver the corresponding products
3aa and
3ab, and the staring material was recovered. Allyl and benzyl boronic acids were used to react with
1a, the corresponding products,
3ac and
3ad were obtained in 86% and 79% yields, respectively. To extend the substrate scope, alkylboronic esters, such as 2-cyclohexyl-4, 4, 5, 5-tetramethyl-1, 3, 2-dioxaborolane (
2a′) and 2-(
tert-butyl)−4, 4-dimethyl-1, 3, 2-dioxaborolane (
2b′) were used to react with
1a under the optimized reaction conditions, and no desired product was observed. When trifluoroacetic acid (1.0 equiv.) was added, the products
3a and
3z were obtained in 77% and 61% yields, owing to the hydrolysis of esters. In addition, the reaction of
1a with 2-allyl-4, 4, 5, 5-tetramethyl-1, 3, 2-dioxaborolane (
2c′) and 2-benzyl-4, 4, 5, 5-tetramethyl-1, 3, 2-dioxaborolane (
2d′) generated the products
3ac and
3ad in 81% and 73% yields (
Scheme 3).