New Difluoro(sulfonato)methylation Method

Significance

The authors report a new difluoro-(sulfonato)methylation approach based on difluoro­methyl sulfones (1). Among the reagents tested in this study, difluoromethyl 2-pyridyl sulfone (1a) stands out as the most efficient candidate. It reacts readily with primary alkyl iodides, bromides, as well as triflates that can be generated in situ from primary alcohols and triflic anhydride. The resulting α,α-difluoroalkyl 2-pyridyl sulfones (2) can be transformed into α,α-difluoroalkyl sulfonates (4) in high yields by a combined dearylation-oxidation procedure.