Mercury trifluoroacetate electrophilic oxidation

Trifluoroacetates of silver, mercury(II), thallium(lll), lead(IV), and lodme(III) are synthetically valuable reagents that combine the properties of strong electrophiles, oxidizers, and Lewis acids Furthermore, trifluoroacetate anions are stable to oxidation, are weak nucleophiles, and usually do not cause any contamination of the reaction mixture... 

Enhancement by strong acids such as TFA is a general feature of oxidations with metal acetates. Metal trifluoroacetates in TFA are much more powerful oxidants (electrophiles) than the corresponding acetates in acetic acid. Activation of the metal oxidant in TFA has been observed with co-balt(III)217 249,259,27S 276 manganese(III),237,275 lead(IV),277-281 thallium-(III),282-287 cerium(IV),288 289 and copper(II).290 Similarly, the electrophilic properties of copper(I)291 and mercury(II)292 acetates are strongly enhanced by replacement of acetate by trifluoroacetate. It has been proposed217,276 that the potent oxidizing properties of Co(III) trifluoroacetate are due to ionization to the cationic Co(III) species,... 

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