A convenient approach towards the 1-aminomethyl-1-fluorocycloalkane scaffold

A three-step synthesis towards 1-aminomethyl-1-fluorocycloalkanes was developed starting from methylenecycloalkanes. Methylenecyclobutane, methylenecyclopentane and methylenecyclohexane were first bromofluorinated to provide the corresponding Markovnikov products, 1-bromomethyl-1-fluorocycloalkanes, which were then converted towards the title compound via azide substitution and hydrogenation. The bromofluorination of methylenecyclopropane, however, led to both the Markovnikov and the anti-Markovnikov product.