Visible-light-promoted perfluoroalkylation/cyclization cascade towards perfluoroalkyl-substituted iminoisobenzofurans by the EDA complex

Abstract

Perfluoroalkyl-functionalized heterocycles exhibit profoundly modified bioactivities, motivating the development of efficient methods for precise perfluoroalkyl group installation. A new metal-free photoinduced radical-initiated cascade reaction was developed for the rapid synthesis of perfluoroalkyl-substituted iminoisobenzofurans by reacting various perfluoroalkyl iodides (RF-I) under mild reaction condition. In this reaction system, the formation of electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complexes is pivotal for the visible-light promoted transformation in the absence of additional photocatalytic species.