Divergent Access to Fluorinated Pharmacons From Ethyl Trifluoropyruvate

Fluoro(oxo) functional groups, such as trifluoromethyl ketones, trifluoroethanols, and difluoromethyl ketones, have emerged as desirable motifs in medicinal chemistry. Traditionally, the installation of these functional groups is accomplished through the use of either designer reagents or nucleophilic trifluoromethylation. In contrast, commercially available fluorinated building blocks, such as ethyl trifluoropyruvate, can be used in a divergent manner to access a wide variety of fluoro(oxo) functional groups. Herein, we demonstrate facile activation of trifluoromethyl(hydroxy) esters for the divergent synthesis of fluorinated pharmacons.