hexanal, and substituted hexanals with an electron-with-
drawing tosyloxy (TsO), chloro, or bromo functionality at
the terminal methyl group under anhydrous conditions
afforded good yields (56ꢀ81%) of acyl fluorides 4bꢀh
selectively (entries 5ꢀ11). In marked contrast, tert-butyla-
cetaldehyde, cyclohexanecarboxaldehyde, and phenylace-
taldehyde resulted in the formation of very low to modest
yields (3ꢀ36%) of fluorination products 4iꢀk (entries
12ꢀ14). This low efficiency for the oxidative fluorination
of these aldehydes, yielding acid fluoride 4, will be due
to the occurrence of a competing BaeyerꢀVilliger-type
rearrangement, being evoked by the reported greater
migratory aptitude of neopentyl, cyclohexyl, and benzyl
groups compared to that of simple linear primary alkyl
groups.1d,14 In fact, formation of rearranged products was
detected in the difluoro-λ3-bromane-induced oxidative
fluorination: for instance, in the reaction of phenylacetal-
dehyde both benzyl fluoride in a large amount (57%) and
benzyl difluoromethy ether (5%) were produced (entry
14). The excellent hypernucleofugalityof aryl-λ3-bromanyl
groups5 suggests that the formation of these fluorine
compounds probably involves a BaeyerꢀVilliger-type 1,2-
shift of the benzyl group from a carbon to oxygen atom
(Supporting Information, Scheme S1).15
bromane, has been proposed for the oxidation of ethanol
to acetaldehyde with 1.18
In marked contrast to the reaction of R-hydroxyalkoxy-
λ3-bromane 2 (R = n-C9H19), which predominantly un-
dergoes a 1,2-shift of the alkyl group to afford rearranged
BaeyerꢀVilliger ester 3 (Scheme 1 and Table 1, entry 3),2
the reductive β-elimination pathway leading to the forma-
tion of acid fluoride 4a constitutes a major reaction course
for R-fluoroalkoxy-λ3-bromane 6 (R = n-C9H19, entry 2).
The presence of the electron-withdrawing R-fluorine atom
with a Hammett substituent constant σp of 0.06 in alkoxy-
λ3-bromane 6,19 instead of the electron-donating R-hydro-
xy group (σp = ꢀ0.37) in 2, probably not only slows down
the rate of the 1,2-shift of the alkyl group, yielding formate
3, but also enhances the rate of reductive β-elimination
producing 4a, because of the increased acidity of the R-
hydrogen atom in 6.
Scheme 3
Instead of Frohn reagent 1, use of difluoro(aryl)-λ3-
iodane p-CF3C6H4IF2 did not undergo oxidation of de-
canal to acid fluoride 4a under our conditions: thus, the
aldehyde (98%) and a large amount of difluoro-λ3-iodane
were recovered unchanged, indicatingthe higher activity of
the hypervalent difluoro-λ3-bromane 1 in the oxidation of
decanal (entry 4). Acid fluorides are generally prepared by
a halogen exchange reaction of acyl chlorides or by
fluorination of carboxylic acids.16 We showed that λ3-
bromane-induced oxidative fluorination of simple linear
primary aldehydes provides a new direct method for access
to acid fluorides.17
A reaction pathway involving the initial formation of R-
fluorohydrin from aldehyde through the addition of HF
generated, in situ, its facile ligand exchange with difluoro-
λ3-bromane 1 on bromane(III), and finally reductive β-
elimination of the resulting R-fluoroalkoxy(fluoro)-λ3-
bromane 6 will reasonably explain the selective formation
of acid fluoride 4 from aldehyde (Scheme 2). In a close
parallel to this, a reaction sequence consisting of the ligand
exchange of an alcohol with Frohn reagent 1, followed by
the reductive β-elimination of intermediate alkoxy-λ3-
λ3-Bromane-induced BaeyerꢀVilliger oxidation of
benzaldehydes in the presence of a small amount of
water exclusively produced aryl formates 8 in good to
excellent yields.2 In marked contrast to the reaction of
aliphatic aldehydes (Table 1), even in the absence of
water the reactions of benzaldehydes with difluoro-λ3-
bromane 1 hold their tendency to undergo Baeyerꢀ
Villiger-type oxidative rearrangement, but the major
products in the reactions were changed from aryl for-
mates 8 to aryl difluoromethyl ethers 7 (Scheme 3). Thus,
reaction of benzaldehyde with Frohn reagent 1 (1.3
equiv) in chloroform at room temperature afforded
difluoromethyl phenyl ether (7a)20 (85%) as a major
product and a small amount of formate ester 8a (11%).
Difluoromethyl ether 7a is rather labile toward hydro-
lysis, and the pure sample of 7a was obtained by
(14) Winnik, M. A.; Stoute, V. Can. J. Chem. 1973, 51, 2788.
(15) For the 1,2-shift of aryl groups from a carbon to oxygen atom in
benzyloxy-λ3-bromanes, see: Ochiai, M.; Yoshimura, A.; Miyamoto, K.
Tetrahedron Lett. 2009, 50, 4792.
(16) (a) Carpino, L. A.; Beyermann, M.; Wenschuh, H.; Bienert, M.
Acc. Chem. Res. 1996, 29, 268. (b) Lal, G. S.; Pez, G. P.; Pesaresi, R. J.;
Prozonic, F. M.; Cheng, H. J. Org. Chem. 1999, 64, 7048. (c) Olah, G. A.;
Nojima, M.; Kerekes, I. Synthesis 1973, 487. (d) White, J. M.; Tunoori,
A. R.; Turunen, B. J.; Georg, G. I. J. Org. Chem. 2004, 69, 2573.
(17) Radical oxidation of aldehydes with cesium fluoroxysulfate
(CsSO4F) in acetonitrile has been reported to give acid fluorides. See:
(a) Stavber, S.; Planinsek, Z.; Zupan, M. J. Org. Chem. 1992, 57, 5334.
(b) Stavber, S.; Kosir, I.; Zupan, M. J. Org. Chem. 1997, 62, 4916.
(18) Ochiai, M.; Yoshimura, A.; Mori, T.; Nishi, Y.; Hirobe, M.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 3742.
(19) Hansch, C.; Leo, A.; Taft, R. W. Chem. Rev. 1991, 91, 165.
(20) (a) Zhang, L.; Zheng, J.; Hu, J. J. Org. Chem. 2006, 71, 9845. (b)
Langlois, B. R. J. Fluorine Chem. 1988, 41, 247.
(21) Reichardt, C. Solvents and Solvent Effects in Organic Chemistry;
Wiley-VCH: Weinheim, 2003.
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Org. Lett., Vol. 13, No. 20, 2011