Anodic Fluorination and Fluorodesulfurization in Ionic Liquid Hydrogen Fluoride Salts with Polyether Additives

In order to avoid an anodic passivation, which sometimes occurs during anodic fluorination in organic solvent, we carried out anodic fluorination and fluorodesulfurization of sulfur-containing compounds in neat ionic liquid hydrogen fluoride salts (Et(3)N-3HF, Et(4)NF-4HF, Et(4)NF-5HF). The addition of polyether additives (similar to 3%) into the reaction system highly improved the yields of the desired fluorinated products due to their anodic stability and coordination ability to counter cations of fluoride ions. Furthermore, HF salts allow the electrolysis in a large current density and exhibited a good result, especially in the presence of polyether additives.