Visible-light-induced direct hydrodifluoromethylation of alkenes with difluoromethyltriphenylphosphonium iodide salt

Abstract

Photoredox-catalyzed hydrodifluoromethylation of alkenes has become an effective method to introduce difluoromethyl group into organic molecules. As the reported methods involve either photocatalysts or superstoichiometric amounts of additives, we herein describe a simple alternative without using photocatalyst or additive for the hydrodifluoromethylation of alkenes, through photoactivation of difluoromethyltriphenylphosphonium iodide salt. Mechanistic studies shed light on how the transformation takes place.