Ruthenium-Catalyzed Ligand-Enabled Regiodivergent Difluoroallylation of Aryl C-H Bonds

Org Lett. 2023 Jun 2;25(21):3870-3875. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c00873. Epub 2023 May 24.

Abstract

The gem-difluoroallyl group is a sought-after structural motif commonly found in pharmaceutical compounds. Despite its appeal, achieving a controlled synthesis of both α,α- and γ,γ-difluoroallylated compounds has proven to be a challenging task. This study presents a new approach to difluoroallylation, which utilizes a regiodivergent C-H bond reaction catalyzed by ruthenium catalysis. This method enables the meta and ortho C-H α,α- and ortho C-H γ,γ-difluoroallylation of arenes using 3-bromo-3,3-difluoropropenes.