Visible Light-Induced Aromatic Difluoroalkylation

Difluoroalkylated aromatics are important structural motifs in pharmaceutical and agrochemical applications. Herein, we report their synthesis by a mild, efficient, and convenient method using visible light photoredox catalysis. A variety of unactivated aromatics were difluoroalkylated with ethyl 2-bromo-2,2-difluoroacetate (BrCF2CO2Et) in the presence of the triscyclometalated Ir complex fac-[Ir(ppy)(3)] under visible light irradiation at room temperature. It is shown that reaction outcomes containing the CF2CO2Et moiety can be converted to a variety of other CF2-containing aromatics, demonstrating the synthetic utility of the present method.