Mild Silver-Mediated Geminal Difluorination of Styrenes Using an Air- and Moisture-Stable Fluoroiodane Reagent

An air-and moisture-stable fluoroiodane in the presence of AgBF4 is suitable for selective geminal difluorination of styrenes under mild reaction conditions. One of the C-F bonds is formed by transfer of electrophilic fluorine from the hypervalent iodine reagent, while the other one arises from the tetrafluoroborate counterion of silver. Deuterium-isotope-labelling experiments and rearrangement of methyl styrene substrates suggest that the reaction proceeds through a phenonium ion intermediate.