Kilogram-Scale Synthesis of Ph3P+CF2CO2–

Ph3P+CF2CO2– (PDFA), a reagent that was developed by us recently, has found widespread applications in the synthesis of fluorinated molecules. Its great synthetic potential stimulates us to develop an effective synthetic route on a kilogram scale, which is described in this work. The used reagents are all cheap and easily available. We also demonstrate that the aldehyde group is significantly more reactive than the double bond group toward PDFA even though both of these two groups are very reactive toward PDFA.