Dediazoniation reactions of arenediazonium ions under solvolytic conditions: fluoride anion abstraction from trifluoroethanol and α-hydrogen atom abstraction from ethanol

Arenediazonium salts decompose thermally and photochemically in trifluoroethanol to yield trifluoroethyl ethers and (in part by fluoride abstraction from the solvent) fluoroarenes; the less reactive compounds in trifluoroethanol decompose readily in ethanol to give arenes in a radical reaction involving abstraction of the α-hydrogen from the ethanol.