Trifluoromethylation of carbonyl compounds with sodium trifluoroacetate

In the presence of copper(l) iodide as catalyst, a variety of carbonyl compounds, such as aldehydes, ketones and acid anhydrous, could be trifluoromethylated with sodium trifluoroacetate to give the corresponding alcohols in moderate to high yields, and a possible mechanism was proposed to explain the roles of catalyst and solvent in the reaction system. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.