Electrochemical O-trifluoromethylation of electron-deficient phenols

oleh: Johannes Bernd, Philipp Werner, Marc Zeplichal, Andreas Terfort

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Elsevier 2021-12-01

Deskripsi

A simple and sustainable one-step strategy for the preparation of electron-deficient aryl trifluoromethyl ethers (ArOCF3) from the corresponding phenols by electrochemical synthesis is presented. Anodic oxidation of trifluoromethane sulfinate (Langlois reagent) leads to direct O-trifluoromethylation of phenol-derivatives bearing fluorine, chlorine, bromine and nitrile substituents under mild conditions in yields up to 75% and in gram-scale. This electrochemical protocol provides an economic and green synthesis for an otherwise inaccessible class of molecules without the need for expensive or toxic reagents, oxidants or metal catalysts.