State-of-the-Art in Electrophilic Trifluoromethylthiolation Reagents

The trifluoromethylthio group (SCF3) is a fluorine chemotype that has experienced a strong acceleration of interest in the recent years. It is particularly true of the construction of new fluorinated architectures by electrophilic trifluoromethylthiolation. The spread of knowledge was already very active in this research domain in the sixties; however, gaseous and highly toxic trifluoromethanesulfenyl chloride (CF3SCl) was the only reagent available at that time. Nowadays, one really can speak of a revival in the field thanks to the rapid development of a wide panoply of reagents that are stable and easy to handle. This review provides a historical perspective of the development of shelf-stable electrophilic trifluoromethylthiolation reagents.