Synthesis of 2-chloro-1,1-difluoroallyl mesylates through novel rearrangement and CC bond formation by their Pd-catalyzed reaction with diethylzinc

Treatment of 2-chloro-3,3-difluoroprop-2-en-1-ol derivatives (2) with methanesulfonyl chloride in the presence of a base did not give the expected esters but 2-chloro-1,1-difluoroprop-2-enyl methanesulfonates (4) through a novel [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement. Reaction of 4 with diethylzinc in the presence of tetrakis(triphenylphosphine) palladium gave 1-alkyl- or 1-aryl-2-chloro-3-fluoropenta-1,3-dienes in moderate to good yields through a CC bond formation followed by dehydrofluorination.