An efficient preparation of new sulfonyl fluorides and lithium sulfonates

An efficient preparation of several polyfluoroalkanesulfonyl fluorides is reported. This method, based on the synthesis of polyfluoroalkyl trimethyl silanes (precursors of polyfluoroalkylsulfinates) as intermediates, allows the successive transformations to be carried out in one pot. Moreover, these sulfonyl fluorides can be obtained from the corresponding sulfinates by electrophilic fluorination. This original approach avoids isolation and purification of some thermally or hydrolytically unstable intermediates. A series of new sulfonyl fluorides have been thus prepared from halogenodifluoromethylated precursors RCF2X (X = F, Br; R = ArC(O), ArS(O)n(CF2)m; n = 0, 1, 2; m = 1, 2) and have been transformed into the corresponding lithium sulfonates, which have potential applications as electrolytes for lithium batteries.