Fluorinated Alcohols: Magic Reaction Medium and Promoters for Organic Synthesis

Abstract

Fluorinated alcohols have been widely used in the synthetic organic chemistry over the past decades. The unique properties such as the strong hydrogen-bonding donor ability and low nucleophilicity allow them to promote organic reactions in the absence of any catalyst. These approaches have distinct advantages in terms of operational simplicity, practicability and environmental friendliness. Reactions promoted by fluorinated alcohols, including nucleophilic substitution reactions, annulation reactions, electrophilic reactions, dearomatization reactions, functionalization of multiple bond, epoxidation reactions and miscellaneous reactions have been summarized in this account.

Keywords: fluorinated alcohols; hexafluoroisopropanol; hydrogen bond; organic synthesis; trifluoroethanol.