The recent trifluoromethylation of unactivated alkenes and related compounds provides
a new and straightforward method to mainly form Csp3–CF3 bonds. However, several mechanisms have been proposed for the system of copper catalysts
and electrophilic trifluoromethylating reagents. This paper differentiated the radical
mechanism from others experimentally and computationally by investigating the chemoselectivity
in the rearrangement of unsymmetrical α,α-diaryl allylic alcohols. Moreover, it outlines
some future directions in this field.
Key words
trifluoromethylation - copper-catalyzed - migration - radical - allylic alcohol