Chemical Science
Edge Article
experiments and completely remote handling of hydrouoric
acid mixtures was possible. The larger volumes of HF$amine
necessary for scale-up procedures could be handled in a safer
manner, since no human interaction was needed. In this
procedure, a ow rate of 1.0 mL minꢀ1 (Table 1, entry 14),
a substrate concentration of 0.07 M, and a 4-iodotoluene
concentration of 0.1 M was used. The scalability of the method
was initially demonstrated by preparing gram-scale quantities
of 5a (1.25 g, 834 mg hꢀ1), 7a (1.24 g, 824 mg hꢀ1) and 7b (1.22 g,
812 mg hꢀ1). By this method, the productivity of 7a was
increased from 287 mg hꢀ1 at a ow rate of 0.25 mL minꢀ1, to
824 mg hꢀ1 at 1.0 mL minꢀ1 and each 6.3 mmol reaction could
be performed in just 1.5 h. Also, the diuorinated product 14a,
derived from the unactivated alkene, could even be produced on
an 8 g scale in just 10.5 h. Pleasingly, upon scaling up from a 1 g
to 8 g scale for compound 14a, no decrease in yield was
observed. Inspection of the electrodes following all large scale
reactions revealed no passivation and a steady voltage was
observed throughout the experiments. Since all scale up reac-
tions could be performed with no detrimental effect on the yield
of the products, the above results demonstrate the reliability of
the ow electrochemical uorination procedure.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conicts to declare.
Acknowledgements
We thank the School of Chemistry, Cardiff University and
EPSRC (PhD studentship to B. W.), for nancial support.
Support for the research stay (T. R.) by the University of Leipzig,
Germany, is gratefully acknowledged.
Notes and references
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Conclusions
In summary, a scalable, reliable, and safe uorination procedure
using hypervalent iodine mediators has been developed.
(Diuoroiodo)arenes are toxic, suffer from chemical instability
and are prone to hydrolysis, so the uninterrupted generation and
immediate use in ow exceeds limitations in batch. Since air and
moisture can be effectively excluded, the yields of ex-cell appli-
cations in ow are oen signicantly higher yielding. Effectively
decoupling iodine(III) formation with the desired reaction
removed any functional group bias of batch procedures. A versa-
tile scope of hypervalent iodine mediated uorinations such as
uorocyclisations, diuorinations, monouorinations and ring
contractions were achieved in good to excellent yields. The system
could be effortlessly manipulated to facilitate a broad range of
reactions by changing the residence time, solvent, or temperature
of the reaction coil. Most notably, the electrochemical approach
for the di-functionalisation of alkenes/alkynes by non-identical
atoms could only be envisioned in ow. Integration into an
automated electrolysis machine and a simple in-line quenching
process facilitated completely remote handling of toxic hydro-
uoric acid. Given the emerging importance of organic uorina-
tion procedures for the pharmaceutical industry, and their bias
towards procedures that are safe, scalable, and reduce constraints
in resources, a ow procedure is invaluable.
Data availability
15 (a) M. Elsherbini and T. Wirth, Acc. Chem. Res., 2019, 52,
All available data are included in the supporting information.
¨
3287; (b) T. Noel, Y. Cao and G. Laudadio, Acc. Chem. Res.,
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2019, 52, 2858; (c) N. Kockmann, P. Thenee, C. Fleischer-
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Trebes, G. Laudadio and T. Noel, React. Chem. Eng., 2017,
Author contributions
2, 258; (d) M. Elsherbini, B. Winterson, H. Alharbi,
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Experiments: BW and TR, manuscript: BW and TW.
A. A. Folgueiras-Amador, C. Genot and T. Wirth, Angew.
9058 | Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 9053–9059
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by the Royal Society of Chemistry