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Fluorination by sulfur tetrafluoride produces organofluorine compounds from oxidized organic compounds, including alcohols, carbonyl compounds, alkyl halides, and others.
Sulfur tetrafluoride is a gaseous reagent that may be used to fluorinate a variety of organic functional groups, including carbonyl compounds, alcohols, and halides. Treatment of carbonyl compounds generally converts them into organofluorides of equivalent oxidation state: carboxylic acids are converted to trifluoromethyl compounds, ketones and aldehydes to difluorides, etc. The reaction has broad scope and is one of the few methods available for the direct introduction of fluorine at a specific site under relatively mild conditions.
Fluorinations of alcohols and halides are also possible with SF4. However, SF4 is gaseous at room temperature, and many transformations involving this reagent require elevated temperatures, making handling somewhat difficult. In addition, the reaction generates large amounts of hydrogen fluoride. These concerns have led to the development of safer, more robust fluorinating reagents, such as DAST.