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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Protocol for the Synthesis of Ortho-trifluoromethoxylated Aniline Derivatives
Published on: January 19, 2016
The bromochlorofluoromethane saga
1Stéréochimie et Interactions Moléculaires (UMR ENS-CNRS 5532), Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 69364 Lyon, France. jeanne.crassous@ens-lyon.fr
Abstract:
Synthesis of optically active samples of bromochlorofluoromethane (CHFClBr) was performed via fractional crystallisation of the strychnine salts of bromochlorofluoroacetic acid (FClBrCCO2H). The S-(+) (R-(-)) absolute configuration of the acid was established by X-ray crystallography and the S-(+) (R-(-)) absolute configuration of the haloform was determined using Raman Optical Activity (ROA) and molecular modelling of the enantioselective molecular recognition process of CHFClBr by the chiral cryptophane-C. From these stereochemical assignments it was observed that the decarboxylation used to obtain S-(+)- and R-(-)-CHFClBr from respectively S-(+)- and R-(-)-FClBrCCO2H occurred with retention of configuration. Finally, the first parity violation (PV) test on CHFClBr was performed and yielded an upper bound for this small stereophysical effect.
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