Palladium-Catalyzed Decarbonylative Difluoromethylation of Acid Chlorides at Room Temperature

Abstract

Methods for the direct synthesis of difluoromethylated arenes are sparse, despite the importance of the difluoromethyl group in medical, agro-, and materials chemistry. A palladium-catalyzed decarbonylative cross-coupling reaction of acid chlorides with a difluoromethyl zinc reagent is achieved to access difluoromethylated compounds. The transformation proceeds at room temperature and shows broad functional group tolerance, thus providing a general and efficient method for decarbonylative difluoromethylation of a wide range of aromatic carboxylic acids.

Keywords: decarbonylation; difluoromethylation; homogeneous catalysis; palladium; room temperature.