A Strategic Synthesis of Fluoroethers via Ring-Opening Fluorinative Beckmann Fragmentation

Org Lett. 2023 Sep 8;25(35):6534-6538. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c02343. Epub 2023 Aug 24.

Abstract

An SN1-type fluorination method for monofluoroethers is developed. The key to this reaction is fluorinative C-C bond cleavage that is driven by oxygen-assisted Beckmann fragmentation. To enable this transformation, cyclic α-aryloxyoximes derived from 3-coumaranone and 1-indanones were investigated as substrates, using N,N-diethylaminosulfur trifluoride (DAST) as a dual-role reagent of an oxime activator and fluoride donor. This method features the synthesis of an underdeveloped chemical motif with simple and mild operating conditions.