Ex-situ generation of gaseous nitriles in two-chamber glassware for facile haloacetimidate synthesis

The synthesis of fluorinated haloacetimidates relies on the access to the corresponding fluoroacetonitriles, which are toxic gaseous molecules difficult to store and handle. In this work we develop a safe two-chamber method for the ex-situ generation of these reagents in one chamber and their subsequent reaction with O -nucleophiles in the second chamber. The method is easy to setup, control and gives access to new haloacetimidates under mild conditions, similar to the ones used for the synthesis of the more commonly used trichloroacetimidates.