Speciation and kinetics of fluoride transfer from tetra-n-butylammonium difluorotriphenylsilicate (‘TBAT’)

19 F NMR analysis of ion-pairing and reaction kinetics shows that TBAT can act as a genuine surrogate for TBAF, as well as a reservoir for rapidly-reversible release of traces of it, to effect both direct ( k d ) and dissociative ( k F ) fluoride transfer.