Novel Aromatic Fluoroolefins via Fluoro-Julia-Kocienski Olefination

Fluoroolefins, which play an increasingly important role as peptide mimics in pharmaceuticals and as crop protection agents, are generated using a fluoro-Julia-Kocienski olefination. Their preparation can easily be accomplished using a Mitsunobu reaction and subsequent oxidation to generate the required benzothiazolyl sulfones. The key step of this process was the electrophilic α-fluorination of the sulfone with N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide. The last stage of the successful synthesis of the fluoroolefins was the modified Julia-Kocienski olefination under basic conditions. Further functionalization was followed with the application of a Suzuki reaction.