Copper-Catalyzed Direct C-H Alkylation of Polyfluoroarenes by Using Hydrocarbons as an Alkylating Source

Construction of carbon-carbon bonds is one of the most important tools in chemical synthesis. In the previously established cross-coupling reactions, prefunctionalized starting materials were usually employed in the form of aryl or alkyl (pseudo)halides or their metalated derivatives. However, the direct use of arenes and alkanes via a 2-fold oxidative C-H bond activation strategy to access chemoselective C(sp²)-C(sp³) cross-couplings is highly challenging due to the low reactivity of carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bonds and the difficulty in suppressing side reactions such as homocouplings. Herein, we present the new development of a copper-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenative coupling of polyfluoroarenes with alkanes under mild conditions. Relatively weak sp³ C-H bonds at the benzylic or allylic positions, and nonactivated hydrocarbons could be alkylated by the newly developed catalyst system. A moderate-to-high site selectivity was observed among various C-H bonds present in hydrocarbon reactants, including gaseous feedstocks and complex molecules. Mechanistic information was obtained by performing combined experimental and computational studies to reveal that the copper catalyst plays a dual role in activating both alkane sp³ C-H bonds and sp² polyfluoroarene C-H bonds. It was also suggested that the noncovalent π-π interaction and weak hydrogen bonds formed in situ between the optimal ligand and arene substrates are key to facilitating the current coupling reactions.