Expedient synthesis of tetrafluorophenoxthiines and derivatives by copper(I)-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction

In this research, tetrafluorophenoxthiines were successfully synthesized from pentafluorobenzene and aryl thiols or diaryl disulfides in the presence of copper catalyst and ligand by using O2 as the oxidant, t-BuOLi as the base at 100 °C. The ligand (E)-3-(dimethylamino)-1-(2-hydroxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (L) played an indispensable role in the reaction. This work contains a notable mode of CF bond activation, which is in the ortho position to the CH bond of pentafluorobenzene.