Quaternary Phosphonium Salts as Active Brønsted Acid Catalysts for Friedel-Crafts Reactions.

A readily available quaternary phosphonium salt containing a trifluoroacetonyl group and a tetrakis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]borate (BArF4-) counterion was demonstrated to be a highly active Brønsted acid catalyst for Friedel-Crafts-type reactions of an array of electron-rich heteroarenes and aniline derivatives with isatin-derived ketimines, even at 0.1 mol % catalyst loadings.