Recent advances in fluorovinyl-containing compounds

The reaction of the HFC-replacements CF3CH2F (HFC-134a) and CF3CH2Cl (HCFC-133a) with two equivalents of butyllithium generates, in high yield, the fluorovinyllithium reagents CF2CFLi and CF2CClLi, respectively. These lithium reagents have been used to synthesise fluorovinyl-containing transition metal and main-group compounds in good yields. The resulting compounds may themselves then be used as stable transfer reagents. Here we report the synthesis of new fluorovinyl-containing organometallic complexes, fluorovinyl-containing phosphine ligands of the type RnP(CXCF2)3−n (n=1, 2; X=Cl, F) and their complexes. The single crystal X-ray structures of [Fe(η5-C5H5)(CO)2(CClCF2)], cis-[PtBr2{PEt2(CFCF2)}2] and trans-[PtCl2{PPh2(CClCF2)}2] are reported.