Visible-Light-Promoted Tandem Difluoroalkylation-Amidation: Access to Difluorooxindoles from Free Anilines.

An efficient and synthetically convenient method for the synthesis of 3,3-difluoro-2-oxindole through a visible-light-induced photoredox difluoromethylation-amidation is described. The process can generate a broad range of difluorooxindoles using bromodifluoroacetate and broadly available free anilines. The wide range of substrate tolerance and mild reaction conditions make this transformation a highly valuable method in applications for drug discovery and development.