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Difluoromethylation of Unactivated Alkenes Using Freon-22 through Tertiary Amine-Borane-Triggered Halogen Atom Transfer.

Zhi-Qi ZhangYue-Qian SangCheng-Qiang WangPeng DaiXiao-Song XueJared L PiperZhi-Hui PengJun-An MaFa-Guang ZhangJie Wu
Published in: Journal of the American Chemical Society (2022)
The application of abundant and inexpensive fluorine feedstock sources to synthesize fluorinated compounds is an appealing yet underexplored strategy. Here, we report a photocatalytic radical hydrodifluoromethylation of unactivated alkenes with an inexpensive industrial chemical, chlorodifluoromethane (ClCF 2 H, Freon-22). This protocol is realized by merging tertiary amine-ligated boryl radical-induced halogen atom transfer (XAT) with organophotoredox catalysis under blue light irradiation. A broad scope of readily accessible alkenes featuring a variety of functional groups and drug and natural product moieties could be selectively difluoromethylated with good efficiency in a metal-free manner. Combined experimental and computational studies suggest that the key XAT process of ClCF 2 H is both thermodynamically and kinetically favored over the hydrogen atom transfer pathway owing to the formation of a strong boron-chlorine (B-Cl) bond and the low-lying antibonding orbital of the carbon-chlorine (C-Cl) bond.
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