THE FLUORINATION OF BUTANE OVER COBALT TRIFLUORIDE

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0022-1139(00)83070-5

The fluorination of butane over cobalt trifluoride has given a complex mixture of partially fluorinated compounds: 51 of these have been identified, comprising over 99percent of the products.Most were polyfluor-butanes but 1-2percent were polyfluoro-2-methylpropanes.The reaction has no synthetic utility.There was some selectivity in the fluorination: secondary C-H was convertart byed into C-F more easily then primary, and the ease of replacement of a particular H was reduced by geminal vicinal fluorines.A computer model of the fluorination was only partially successful, perhaps because the fluorination proceeded in part by simple F for H replacement and in part via alkenes: the model only allowed for the former.