Chlorodifluoromethyl aryl ketones and sulfones as difluorocarbene reagents: The substituent effect

We have investigated the different chlorodifluoromethyl aryl ketones 1a–1g and sulfones 2a–2h as difluorocarbene reagents for O- and N-difluoromethylations. It was found that the sulfone reagents 2 were generally more efficient in difluoromethylation than the ketone reagents 1. Furthermore, while the different substituents on ketone reagents 1 did not show a remarkable impact on the difluoromethylation reaction, the substituent effect on the sulfone reagents 2 was much more significant. Finally, we found that p-chlorophenyl chlorodifluoromethyl sulfone 2d and p-nitrophenyl chlorodifluoromethyl sulfone 2h were among the most powerful difluorocarbene reagents in this category for O-difluoromethylations.