Pd-catalyzed decarboxylative couplings of aryl triazine esters with zinc polyfluorobenzoates

A Pd-catalyzed decarboxylative cross-coupling by using zinc polyfluorobenzoates as robust polyfluoroarylating agents and aryl triazine esters as effective benzoylating reagents was realized, enabling the facile assembly of a wide array of valuable polyfluorinated aryl ketones in moderate to good yields. A variety of functional groups could be well tolerated in the protocol and the reaction could be scaled-up as well. Especially noteworthy is that one-pot reaction by directly adding polyfluorobenzoic acid and Zn(OH)2 to the decarboxylative reaction as precursor to in situ form zinc polyfluorobenzoate could also be successfully achieved, thereby providing a more practical, step-economic, and cost-effective approach for accessing polyfluorinated aryl ketones. Control experiments showed that zinc pentafluorobenzoate was superior to other metallic counterparts.