Precursor for the preparation of Trifluoromethylcopper Species

Phenyl trifluoromethyl sulfoxide (1) is used as a precursor of a trifluoromethylcopper species. 1 quantitatively affords trifluoromethylcopper species (2) by the treatment of CuCl with potassium tert-butoxide. The chemical structure of 2 is indicated by ¹⁹F-NMR and is stabilized by the addition of Et₃N・3HF. 2 successfully reacts with aryl halides, terminal alkynes and aryl boronic acids to afford the related trifluoromethylated products. Fluorine-containing functional groups such as a trifluoromethyl group are considered to be important for improving bioactivity and functionality. For this reason, the reactions using 1 are expected to be applied as a method for introduction of the trifluoromethyl group in the future.