Studies on the additive fluoro-Pummerer reaction of phenylsulfanylated lactams with difluoroiodotoluene

Two fluorine atoms are effectively introduced to the 3- and 4-positions of sulfur-containing lactams through the action of the hypervalent iodoarene reagent difluoroiodotoluene (DFIT). The reaction proceeds through the intermediacy of the isolable α,β-unsaturated congener followed by an additive-Pummerer process.