An efficient access to (Z)-β-fluoroallyl alcohols based on the two carbon homologation of aromatic aldehydes by Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction with 2-(diethoxyphosphinyl)-2-fluoro-ethanethioic acid, S-ethyl ester followed by reduction with sodium borohy

We describe a biomimetic approach to (Z)-β-fluoroallyl alcohols based on the two carbon homologation of aromatic aldehydes to α-fluorocinnamic thioesters by Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction with 2-(diethoxyphosphinyl)-2-fluoro-ethanethioic acid, S-ethyl ester, followed by reduction with sodium borohydride in mild conditions. The α-fluorothioesters were obtained in a good yield by condensing the aldehydes with the lithium anion of 2-(diethoxyphosphinyl)-2-fluoro-ethanethioic acid, S-ethyl ester in THF at −78 °C. The (E,Z)-α-fluorocinnamic thioester mixtures were then cleanly reduced with double bond isomerisation to the corresponding (Z)-β-fluoroallyl alcohols by NaBH4 at room temperature. This methodology may be applied to highly functionalized aldehydes as exemplified by the straightforward access to (Z)-β-fluoroconiferin, a strong inhibitor of lignin polymerization from O-glucosylated vanillin.