Polymer-Supported Reagents and 1H–19F NMR Couplings: The Synthesis of 2-Fluoroacetophenone

Abstract

We describe an experiment for the undergraduate organic laboratory curriculum in which 2-bromoacetophenone is converted to 2-fluoroacetophenone using a solid-phase nucleophilic fluorine source. The experiment introduces students to the utility of solid-phase reagents in organic synthesis, to NMR-active nuclei other than 1H without the requirement of a special NMR probe, and to the unique uses of fluorine in molecular design.