A pragmatic procedure for predicting regioselectivity in nucleophilic substitution of aromatic fluorides

The scope and limitations of a method for predicting the regioisomer distribution in kinetically controlled nucleophilic substitution reactions of aromatic fluorides have been investigated. This method is based on calculating the relative stabilities of the isomeric σ-complex intermediates using DFT. A wide set of substrates and anionic nucleophiles have been investigated. Predictions from this method can be used quantitatively—these agree to an average accuracy of ±0.5 kcal/mol with experimental observations in eleven of the twelve investigated reactions.