SYNLETT Best Paper Award 2021: Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Electrophile Coupling of the Difluoromethyl Group for Fluorinated Cyclopropane Synthesis
Elizabeth Jarvo tells the story behind her award-winning paper on new developments in the synthesis of fluorinated cyclopropanes.
The award-winning article deals with a conceptually new approach to fluorinated cyclopropanes. The work of Elizabeth R. Jarvo and her group from the University of California-Irvine
(USA) is based on a photocatalytic styrene methoxy difluoromethylation. The resulting products are elegantly used in a nickel-catalyzed intramolecular cross-electrophile coupling reaction between the difluoromethyl moiety and the methyl ether. According to Professor Jarvo, her group previously established intramolecular XEC reactions of the strong C–F bonds of alkyl fluorides. They sought to extend this reactivity to include the difluoromethyl group, a particular challenge for multiple reasons including strength of the C–F bonds and strain associated with the reaction products.
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