Discovery of practical production processes for arylsulfur pentafluorides and their higher homologues, bis- and tris(sulfur pentafluorides): Beginning of a new era of “super-trifluoromethyl” arene chemistry and its industry

• Teruo Umemoto,
• Lloyd M. Garrick and
• Norimichi Saito

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 461–471, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.53

• an alkali metal fluoride, and (step 2) treatment of the resulting arylsulfur chlorotetrafluoride with a fluoride source, such as ZnF2, HF, and Sb(III/V) fluorides. The intermediate arylsulfur chlorotetrafluorides were isolated by distillation or recrystallization and characterized. The aspects of

• economical production of various arylsulfur pentafluorides and their higher homologues, which could then open up a new era of “super-trifluoromethyl” arene chemistry and its applications in many areas. Keywords: arylsulfur chlorotetrafluoride; arylsulfur pentafluoride; pentafluorosulfanyl; sulfur

• ] and thus discovered 4-tert-butyl-2,6-dimethylphenylsulfur trifluoride (Fluolead reagent) as an excellent fluorinating agent with high thermal stability, ease of handling, and wide applicability [50][51]. During the research, we unexpectedly discovered that an arylsulfur chlorotetrafluoride (ArSF4Cl