Ruthenium-catalyzed arylation of fluorinated aromatic ketones via ortho-selective carbon–fluorine bond cleavage

We report here ruthenium-catalyzed arylation of fluorinated aromatic ketones via ortho-selective carbon–fluorine bond cleavage. In the presence of trimethylvinylsilane and cesium fluoride, ortho carbon–fluoride bonds of aromatic ketones were phenylated by 5,5-dimethyl-2-phenyl-1,3,2-dioxaborinane using RuH2(CO)(PPh3)3 as a catalyst. Tandem C–F phenylation/C–H alkylation was observed for substrates bearing both one ortho hydrogen and one ortho fluorine atoms.