Catalytic trifluoromethylation of iodoarenes by use of 2-trifluoromethylated benzimidazoline as trifluoromethylating reagent.

The trifluoromethylation of iodoarenes was accomplished by use of a 2-trifluoromethylbenzimidazoline derivative as the trifluoromethylating reagent and a catalytic amount of Cu(I) in the presence of 2,2'-bipyridyl as the ligand. Through a mechanistic study, we found that the oxidative addition of the iodoarene to the Cu(I)-CF3 species is the rate-determining step.