Catalytic hydrodefluorination of fluoroaromatics with silanes as hydrogen source at a binuclear rhodium complex: Characterization of key intermediates

Stoichiometric and catalytic hydrodefluorination reactions of fluorinated aromatic substrates on using [Rh(μ-H)(dippp)]2 (1) (dippp = 1,3-bis(diisopropylphosphino)propane) as catalyst and HSiEt3 as a hydrogen source are reported. Treatment of the hydrido complex 1 with the fluoroarenes gave the fluorido complex [Rh(μ-F)(dippp)]2 (2) and organic hydrodefluorination products. An unusual ortho-selectivity was observed in the reaction of 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoropyridine and pentafluorobenzene giving the 1,2-hydrodefluorinated products. The binuclear structure of complex 2 in the solid state was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The fluorido complex 2 reacted with HSiEt3 and HSiiPr3 by elimination of the corresponding fluorosilanes to afford the η2-silane hydrido complexes [Rh(H)(η2-HSiEt3)(dippp)] (3) and [Rh(H)(η2-HSiiPr3)(dippp)] (4), respectively. The structures of the complexes 3 and 4 were derived from NMR data and DFT calculations. Catalytic reactions of pentafluoropyridine, 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-pyridine or 2,3,5,6-tetra-fluoropyridine, hexa- and pentafluorobenzene with HSiEt3 in the presence of 5 mol% of 1 afforded hydrodefluorination products with up to 19 turnovers after 48 h at 50 °C. In contrast to the stoichiometric reactions, the catalytic transformations resulted predominantly in hydrodefluorinations at the para-position of the nitrogen atom in the heterocycles giving evidence for two different C–F activation pathways. Compound 3 can be considered to be an intermediate in the catalytic hydrodefluorinations of the fluoroarenes.