10.1021/jo00378a028
The research focuses on the synthesis of ethyl 3,3-difluoroacrylate (6) and its subsequent Diels-Alder reaction with furan to produce difluorocyclohexadienol derivatives. The purpose of this study was to develop an efficient method for synthesizing ethyl 3,3-difluoroacrylate, a compound of interest for its potential to introduce fluorine atoms into organic molecules, and to explore its reactivity in the Diels-Alder reaction. The researchers successfully developed a synthesis route with an overall yield of 36%, starting from ethyl vinyl ether and dibromodifluoromethane. Key chemicals used in the process include ethyl vinyl ether, dibromodifluoromethane, ethanol, Caro's acid, m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid, and triethylamine. The study concluded that ethyl 3,3-difluoroacrylate is more reactive than methyl acrylate and that the Diels-Alder reaction with furan, although accompanied by decomposition, yielded a mixture of epimers, demonstrating the potential of this approach for synthesizing complex molecules with fluorine substitution.