Evidence for Direct Transmetalation of Au III –F with Boronic Acids

The underlying reactivity of Au III –F species with aryl boronic acids has been studied in detail taking advantage of four novel, stable difluoro-[(C^N)AuF 2 ], arylmonofluoro-[(C^N)AuArF], and alkylmonofluoro-[(C^N)AuAlkF] gold(III) complexes, prepared and isolated in monomeric form. We provide the first experimental evidence for a direct Au III –F/B transmetalation preceding the Csp 2 –Csp 2 or Csp 3 –Csp 2 bond formation.