Direct electrophilic and radical isoperfluoropropylation with i-C₃F₇-Iodine(III) reagent (PFPI reagent)

The isoperfluoropropyl group (i-C₃F₇) is an emerging motif in pharmaceuticals, agrichemicals and functional materials. However, isoperfluoropropylated compounds remain largely underexplored, presumably due to the lack of efficient access to these compounds. Herein, we disclose the practical and efficient isoperfluoropropylation of aromatic C-H bonds through the invention of a hypervalent-iodine-based reagent-PFPI reagent, that proceeds via a Ag-X coupling process. The activation of the PFPI reagent without any catalysts or additives was demonstrated in the synthesis of isoperfluoropropylated electron-rich heterocycles, while its activity under photoredox catalysis was shown in the synthesis of isoperfluoropropylated non-activated arenes. Detailed mechanistic experiments and DFT calculations revealed a SET-induced concerted mechanistic pathway in the photoredox reactions. In addition, the unique conformation of i-C₃F₇ in products, that involved intramolecular hydrogen bond was investigated by X-ray single-crystal diffraction and variable-temperature NMR experiments.