UPDATES
Monofluoromethylation of Tetrahydroisoquinolines
References
ther participates in next transformation in two possi-
ble pathways: a) loss of trifluoroacetate from inter-
mediate 5a to give desired product 3a and b) dehy-
dration of 5a to give 4a (Scheme 4-a). Under alkaline
condition, intermediate 5a prefers to undergo C C
bond cleavage, resulting in 3a as the major product
(Scheme 4-b).
In summary, we have developed a mild monofluor-
omethylation of tetrahydroisoquinolines via visible
light-induced photoredox catalysis with stable and
easily-obtained b-fluorinated gem-diols as the CF
source. This transformation allowed us to introduce
the CF group to the corresponding tetrahydroisoqui-
nolines in good yields. Preliminary investigations pro-
vide a general understanding of the reaction mecha-
nism.
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À
Experimental Section
General Procedure
To a 10 mL Schlenk flask equipped with a magnetic stir bar
was added tetrahydroisoquinoline (0.2 mmol), b-fluorinated
gem-diol (0.24 mmol), DNB (0.3 mmol), and [Ru(phen)3]Cl2
(5b, 0.004 mmol, 2 mol%). The tube was degassed by alter-
nating vacuum evacuation (5 min) and argon backfill three
times. CH2Cl2 (1 mL) was added followed by NEt3
(0.3 mmol). The mixture was then irradiated with a 5W blue
LED 200 cm strip at room temperature for 48 h. After the
starting material was consumed as indicated by TLC, the
mixture was subjected to flash chromatography (petroleum
ether 60–90/EtOAc, 15:1) on silica gel to give the desired
product.
Procedure of Scale-up Experiment
To a 50 mL Schlenk flask equipped with a magnetic stir bar
was added tetrahydroisoquinoline 1a (4.8 mmol, 1.0 g), b-
fluorinated gem-diol 2a (5.8 mmol, 1.46 g), DNB (7.2 mmol,
1.2 g), [Ru(phen)3]Cl2 (5b, 0.096 mmol, 68 mg, 2 mol%).
The tube was degassed by alternating vacuum evacuation
(5 min) and argon backfill three times. CH2Cl2 (24 mL) was
added followed by NEt3 (7.2 mmol, 0.73 g). The mixture was
then irradiated by two 18W white fluorescent light at room
temperature for 3 days. Then the mixture was washed with
brine, dried, and concentrated under reduced pressure. The
residue was purified by column chromatography over silica
gel to give monofluoromethylated tetrahydroisoquinoline 3a
as a yellow oil; yield: 1.4 g (85%).
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Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the Nature National Science
Foundation of China (21172106, 21074054, 21372114), the
National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB923303)
and the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher
Education of China (20120091110010) for their financial sup-
port.
Adv. Synth. Catal. 0000, 000, 0 – 0
ꢀ 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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