Synthesis of L-Au(I)-CF2H Complexes and Their Application as Transmetalation Shuttles to the Difluoromethylation of Aryl Iodides

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/acs.organomet.1c00305

We describe herein two alternative protocols to efficiently prepare difluoromethylgold(I) complexes bearing ancillary ligands with different electronic and steric properties. LAu-OX (X = H andt-Bu) species, formed in the presence of base, have been identified as intermediate complexes involved in these transformations. The application of these compounds as “CF₂H transmetalation shuttles” from gold to palladium has been demonstrated in a Pd-catalyzed difluoromethylation reaction of aryl iodides, in which the Au-to-Pd transfer of “CF₂H” is feasible under stoichiometric conditions. These findings will pave the way for catalytic manifolds in gold chemistry.