Groups trifluoromethyl

Because substitution m (trifluoromethyl)benzene occurs primarily at positions meta to the substituent we say that a trifluoromethyl group is a meta director... 

Turning now to electrophilic aromatic substitution in (trifluoromethyl)benzene we con sider the electronic properties of a trifluoromethyl group Because of their high elec tronegativity the three fluorine atoms polarize the electron distribution m their ct bonds to carbon so that carbon bears a partial positive charge... 

Unlike a methyl group which is slightly electron releasing a trifluoromethyl group is a powerful electron withdrawing substituent Consequently a CF3 group destabilizes a car bocation site to which it is attached... 

Attack at the meta position leads to a more stable intermediate than attack at either the ortho or the para position and so meta substitution predominates Even the inter mediate corresponding to meta attack however is very unstable and is formed with dif ficulty The trifluoromethyl group is only one bond farther removed from the positive charge here than it is m the ortho and para intermediates and so still exerts a significant although somewhat diminished destabilizing inductive effect... 

Figure 12 11 compares the energy profile for nitration of benzene with those for attack at the ortho meta and para positions of (trifluoromethyl)benzene The presence of the electron withdrawing trifluoromethyl group raises the activation energy for attack at all the ring positions but the increase is least for attack at the meta position... 

Our analysis of substituent effects has so far centered on two groups methyl and triflu oromethyl We have seen that a methyl substituent is activating and ortho para directing A trifluoromethyl group is strongly deactivating and meta directing What about other substituents ... 

As Table 12 2 indicates a variety of substituent types are meta directing and strongly deactivating We have already discussed one of these the trifluoromethyl group Several of the others have a carbonyl group attached directly to the aromatic ring... 

Because the carbon atom attached to the ring is positively polarized a carbonyl group behaves m much the same way as a trifluoromethyl group and destabilizes all the cyclo hexadienyl cation intermediates m electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions Attack at any nng position m benzaldehyde is slower than attack m benzene The intermediates for ortho and para substitution are particularly unstable because each has a resonance structure m which there is a positive charge on the carbon that bears the electron withdrawing substituent The intermediate for meta substitution avoids this unfavorable juxtaposition of positive charges is not as unstable and gives rise to most of the product... 

Instead of stabilizing the carbonyl group by electron donation as alkyl substituents do trifluoromethyl groups destabilize it by withdrawing electrons A less stabilized carbonyl group IS associated with a greater equilibrium constant for addition... 

General Properties. The trifluoromethyl group is stable under different reaction conditions, eg, the multistep classical transformation of ben2ottifluoride to ttifluoroacetic acid features successive nitration, reduction, and oxidation. 

Nucleophilic Displacement Reactions. The strong electron-withdrawing effect of a trifluoromethyl group activates ortho and para halogen toward nucleophilic attack. Such chlorine labiUty is utili2ed in the manufacture of crop control chemicals containing trifluoromethyl and nitro groups. 

Reactions Involving the Trifluoromethyl Group. Aluminum chloride effects chlorinolysis of ben2otrifluoride to give ben2otrichloride (307). High yields of volatile acid fluorides are formed from ben2otrifluoride and perfluorocarboxyUc acids (308). 

A large variety of newer poly(ether imide)s has been described. Included among these are perfluorinated polymers (96), poly(ester ether imide)s (97), poly(ether imide)s derived from A/,Ar-diamino-l,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxyHcbisimide (98), and poly(arylene ether imide ketone)s (99). In addition, many other heterocyHc groups have been introduced into polyether systems, eg, poly(pyrazole ether)s (100) and poly(aryl ether phenylquinoxaLine)s (101) poly(aryl ether oxazole)s with trifluoromethyl groups (102) and polyethers with other heterolinkages, eg, poly(arylether azine)s (103). 

Fluorination and iodination reactions are used relatively littie in dye synthesis. Fluorinated species include the trifluoromethyl group, which can be obtained from the trichi oromethyl group by the action of hydrogen fluoride or antimony pentafluoride, and various fluorotria2iQyl and pyrimidyl reactive systems for reactive dyes, eg, Cibacron F dyes. 

Steric factors would ordinarily be expected to induce a preference for the larger group to move outward and thus generate the -isomer. It was observed, however, that in the case of l,2,3,4-tetrafluoro-tran5-3,4-bis(trifluoromethyl)cyclobutene, ring opening occurred with an inward rotation of the trifluoromethyl groups. ... 

Valence Bond Isomers of Aromatic Compounds Stabilized by Trifluoromethyl Groups Kohayashi Y Kumadaki, I Acc Chem Res 14 76-82 46... 

Triethylbenzylammonium chloride and potassium fluoride containing 1% water can provide chlorine-fluorine exchange of activated halides in the absence of a solvent. This mixture also can displace the chlorine of a chlorodifluoromethyl group to form a trifluoromethyl group [62] (equation 36). 

Carboxylic acids react both with fluoroaminosulfiiranes such as DAST and with sulfur tetrafluonde. Whereas DAST converts the acids to acyl fluorides only, sulfur tetrafluonde further fluorinates the primarily formed acyl fluorides and ultimately converts the carboxyl group to a trifluoromethyl group. 

Treatment of 2,5 and 2,4-furandicarboxylic acids with sulfur tetrafluonde in an excess of hydrogen fluoride leads simultaneously to conversion of the carboxylic groups into trifluoromethyl groups and addition of two fluorine atoms to the furan ring to give highly fluorinated diastereoisomersof2,5-dihydrofuran [225,226,227] (equations 117 and 118)... 

The reaction ot tormamides with sulfur tetrafluoride in the presence of potassium fluoride leads to replacement of both carbonyl oxygen and hydrogen with fluorine. The formyl group is directly converted into the trifluoromethyl group A-(trifluoromethyl)amines are formed in near quantitative yields [233] (equation 121)... 

Besides sulfur tetrafluonde, only a very few reagents can convert a carboxylic group into a trifluoromethyl group... 

A vanety of secondary alcohols with terminal trifluoromethyl group are oxidized by the Dess-Martin periodinane reagent [52 57] (equation 48)... 

Boron tribromide replaces fluonne with bromine on tertiary or secondary carbons however, trifluoromethyl groups are inert in this reaction [70] (equation 57). 

Alkyl fluorides are more reactive than other alkyl halides under Friedel-Crafts conditions, whereas trifluoromethyl groups are less reactive than other trihalomethyl groups Thus, a bromoindane is prepared from 1-bromo-l-fluoro-2,2,3,3-tetramethylcyclopropane and benzene [5] (equation 8) whereas 3-tnfluo romethylphenyldiphenylchloromethane is obtained from 3-trifluoromethyl-benzotrichloride and benzene [9] (equation 9)... 

Trifluoromethyl groups are very resistant to hydrolysis, unless they are allylic or benzylic, or vicinal to a carbon linked to hydrogen. In the last case, elimination of hydrogen fluonde leads to the formation of a difluoromethylene group which is key to additional reactions... 

Hydrolysis of the trifluoromethyl group of 2 tnfluoiomethylimidazoles is promoted by the formation of the anion, which readily eliminates fluoride. The resultant ditluorodiazafulvene then easily adds water The remaining steps in the hydrolysis ate predictable When aqueous ammonia is used, 2-cyanoimidazoles result [40] (equation 4])... 

UV irradiation of steroidal dienones in the presence of Irifluoromethyl iodide allows the selective introduction of a trifluoromethyl group ct to the carbonyl function [140] (equation 121)... 

The photochemical introduction of a trifluoromethyl group into aromatic and heteroaromatic rings, such as uracil, can be performed also with trifluoromethyl bromide [/5/] (equation 131)... 

Recently developed trifluoromethylatmg agents capable of transferring the trifluoromethyl group as a cation to strongly nucleophilic compounds such as carbanions and sulfur and phosphorus nucleophiles are prepared from o-biphenyl trifluoromethyl sulfoxide [164] and are shown in equation 141... 

Trifluoroacetylation of Wittig-type ylides leads to different trifluoromethyl group containing products, depending on the reaction partners and conditions [64, 65, 66, 67] (equations 31-33)... 

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