Electrochemical synthesis of β-difluoromethylamide compounds by N -benzenesulfonylacrylamide with difluorine reagents.

A mild and efficient electrochemical method for radical addition, cyclization, and migration reaction was described in this work. A difluoromethyl radical was produced by anodizing CF 2 HSO 2 Na. The resulting product was then added to olefin, underwent Smiles cyclization, and migrated to form β-difluoromethamide compounds after the release of SO 2 . The process was free from metals and catalysts, gram-grade, and resistant to a variety of electron-rich substrates.