Conversion of a Au I Fluorido Complex into an N-Fluoroamido Derivative: N-F versus Au-N Reactivity.

The Au I complex [Au{N(F)SO 2 Ph}(SPhos)] (SPhos=dicyclohexyl(2',6'-dimethoxy[1,1'-biphenyl]-2-yl)phosphane) (2) bearing a fluoroamido ligand has been synthesized by reaction of the fluorido complex [Au(F)(SPhos)] (1) with NFSI (NFSI=N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide). A reaction with CO resulted in an unprecedented insertion into the N-F bond at 2. With the carbene precursor N 2 CH(CO 2 Et) N-F bond cleavage gave the Au-F bond insertion product [Au{CHF(CO 2 C 2 H 5 )}(SPhos)] (7). The presence of CNtBu led to Au-N cleavage at 2 and concomitant amide formation to give the cationic complex [Au(CNtBu)(SPhos)][N(F)SO 2 Ph)] (5), which reacted further to give FtBu as well as the cyanido complex [Au(CN)(SPhos)] (6). These results led to the development of a process for the amination of electrophilic organic substrates by transfer of the fluoroamido group NF(SO 2 Ph) - .