Application of trimethylvinylsilane as a convenient synthetic precursor of (Perfluoroalkyl)ethenes: An unusual fluoride-induced elimination-desilylation coupled reaction

A convenient and effective method for the preparation of perfluoroalkylated ethenes is described. First, the free radical addition of perfluoroalkyl iodides to trimethylvinylsilane in the presence of AIBN gave iodoethylsilane intermediates (F(CF(2))(n)()CH(2)CHISiMe(3), n = 4 (1), 6 (2), 8 (3), 10 (4); 94-99%). Then an unusual dehydrohalogenation-desilylation reaction was effected by tetrabutylammonium fluoride, and finally the product isolation (F(CF(2))(n)()CH=CH(2) (5-8), 62-87%) was facilitated using a fluorous phase separation technique. This novel approach can also be applied to adjust short C(2) hydrocarbon units to functionalized fluorinated segments (e.g., HOCH(2)(CF(2))(8)CH=CH(2) (11), 71%). All structures were verified by state-of-the-art multinuclear one- and two-dimensional NMR experiments involving both homo- ((19)F-(19)F) and heteronuclear ((1)H-(13)C, (19)F-(13)C) correlations based on the GMQFCOPS and inverse (1)H and/or (19)F detected GHSQC, GHMQC sequences with broad-band adiabatic (13)C decoupling.