Aliphatic Organolithiums by Fluorine-Lithium Exchange: n-Octillithium

Miguel Yus, Raquel P. Herrera, Albert Guijarro. Aliphatic Organolithiums by Fluorine-Lithium Exchange: n-Octillithium. Tetrahedron Lett. . 2003, Vol. 44 / 2003, p. 5025-2003.

<p>The reaction of 1-fluorooctane (1) with an excess of lithium powder (4&ndash;10 equiv.) and DTBB (2&ndash;4 equiv.) in THP at 0&deg;C for 5 min gives a solution of the corresponding 1-octyllithium (2), which reacts then with different electrophiles at 0&deg;C (D2O, MeSiCl, ButCHO, Et2CO), or &minus;78&deg;C [ClCO2Me, PhCH2S)2] or &minus;40&deg;C (CO2) to room temperature to give, after hydrolysis, the expected products (3). The same process applied to 2-fluorooctane gives mainly octane as reaction product, independently on the electrophile used, resulting from a proton abstraction by 2-lithiooctane formed from the reaction medium before addition of the electrophilic reagent</p>