Nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of carbonyl compounds and derivatives

This review highlights the main methods for the nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of aldehydes, ketones, esters, imines and their analogous compounds published in the literature in the last six years. The focus is on synthetically useful procedures and the work is organized according to the type of carbonyl compound subjected to the trifluoromethylation reaction.


Introduction
Fluorine is the most abundant halogen in the earth's crust, 1 and is widely used during lead optimization in drug discovery. 2,3,4In fact, five of the new drugs approved last year by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) contain a trifluoromethyl group.][7] Moreover, the effect of fluorine on the biological activity of agrochemicals such as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and plant growth regulators has earned fluorine a unique place in the toolbox of the agrochemical chemist, given that it represents about the 35 to 40% of the active ingredients in crop protection products. 8Likewise, fluorine has been recognized as a key element in materials science.Fluorinated functional materials are emerging as important chemical tools to achieve improved performance and higher stability under a variety of conditions. 9onventional synthetic methods are not always applicable to the preparation of organofluorine derivatives due to the unique characteristics of fluorine.Therefore, the synthetic access to fluorinated compounds was difficult in the past and largely restricted to the use as starting materials of a very limited amount of commercially available fluorinated building blocks 10 or simple synthetic fluorinated templates. 11,12Taking into account that many biologically active compounds contain the trifluoromethyl group as the essential motif, the introduction of this moiety is a challenging topic, and the development of highly efficient methodologies for trifluoromethylation is of significant importance for wide fields of science and technology.
Trifluoromethylation of carbonyl derivatives is a valuable tool for the carbon-CF3 bond construction.However, the trifluoromethyl group has been particularly difficult to install, in part because the reactive intermediates that are generated during trifluoromethylation reactions are unstable under the conditions necessary for the reactions to proceed.The harsh protocols typically required for these reactions can limit the substrates that can be used and/or cause sideproduct formation.
Excellent reviews of the nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of carbonyl compounds 13 including the asymmetric trifluoromethylation have been published.Here, we describe some of the seminal aspects of trifluoromethylation of carbonyl derivatives and carboxylic compounds covered by such reviews, and we mainly focus on publications that have appeared in the last years until the end of May 2013.
The following abbreviations / acronyms are used throughout this review: DFT Density Functional Theory DMDP Dihydroxymethyldihydroxypyrrolidine Tetramethylammonium fluoride In the 1980s, several nucleophilic trifluoromethylation reagents containing silicon were reported.For example, De Meijere and Hartkopf designed the trialkylsilyl(trifluoromethyl) diazenes 2 (Figure 1) as tailored reagents, 14 and following this work trifluoromethylsilicon compounds such as (trimethyl)trifluoromethylsilane 1, (trichloro)trifluoromethylsilane 3 and (trimethoxy)trifluoromethylsilane 4 (Figure 1) were prepared by Ruppert's group. 15However, at that time these compounds were not synthetically explored as efficient trifluoromethylating reagents.Finally, at the end of this decade Prakash and his coworkers reported the first nucleophilic trifluoromethylations of aldehydes and ketones using 1 (TMSCF3, Ruppert-Prakash reagent, RPr) in the presence of TBAF. 16

Figure 1
The most widely exploited route for nucleophilic trifluoromethylation involves the use of a CF3 containing reagent A in combination with an activator to generate the anionic species B which can act as source of CF3 carbanions in reactions with carbonyl compounds (Scheme 1).

Trifluoromethylation of aldehydes
The trifluoromethylating reagent TMSCF3, which was first prepared by Ruppert, 15 became the Ruppert-Prakash reagent 1 (RPr), 16 after this group has extensively used it as a versatile reagent to incorporate a trifluoromethyl group into organic compounds by nucleophilic activation. 17,23MSCF3 itself does not react with carbonyl compounds 5, and the trifluoromethide anion must be liberated by activation with an initiator (Scheme 2) to give the corresponding trifluoromethylated adducts 6. Usually, fluoride anions, such as 8 (TBAF, tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride), 9 (TBAT, tetra-n-butylammonium triphenyldifluorosilicate), 10 (TMAF, tetramethylammonium fluoride) or CsF have been widely used as nucleophilic initiators for the trifluoromethylation of aldehydes.The initial addition step is usually followed by desilylation that gives the desired alcohol 7.

Scheme 2
Using this protocol a variety of aldehydes 5 reacted with TMSCF3 and TBAF making the corresponding trifluoromethylated adducts easily accessible.Prakash and Yudin suggest that a catalytic amount of 8 (TBAF) in the reaction mixture initially gives Me3SiF and an alkoxide adduct 11 (Scheme 3). 17The reaction between 11 and 1 (RPr) leads to the formation of pentavalent complex 12 which transfers the trifluoromethyl group to the carbon of another molecule of carbonyl compound 5.

Scheme 4
Other fluorinated activators have been used for the trifluoromethylation of aldehydes.For example, cinnamaldehyde was first trifluoromethylated using 1 (RPr) and catalytic amounts of CsF by Prakash et al. 16 Many other CsF-catalyzed processes have been used for the introduction of CF3 group in aldehydes, which were first transformed to trifluoromethyl silyl ether intermediates and afforded trifluoromethylated alcohols in excellent yields after acid hydrolysis. 13This reaction can be applied to tandem processes as it has been shown in a novel synthetic route to biologically important trifluoromethylated phthalans. 25Thus, a tandem nucleophilic addition/intramolecular oxa-Michael reaction, between ortho-formyl cinnamate derivatives or enones 13 (Scheme 5) and 1 (RPr) in the presence of cesium fluoride results in the formation of trifluoromethylated phthalans 14 in good yields. 26Although the diastereomeric isomers of 14 are chromatographically inseparable, they can be clearly differentiated by their 19 F NMR spectrum, and according to the NOE measurement, the major isomer was assigned to be the trans-diastereoisomer in all cases.

Scheme 5
Nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of aldehydes with 1 (TMSCF3, RPr) has also been studied using other non-fluorinated nucleophilic activators, such as, pyridine, AsPh3, SbPh3, Et3N, n-Bu2NH, Ph3P or P(tBu)3.These Lewis base catalyzed reactions proceed more slowly and the yields of the final products are lower than when fluoride ion is utilized. 13Trimethylamine Noxide as well as carbonate and phosphate salts such as K2CO3 and (MeO)2-P(O)NBu4 or lithium acetate also showed efficient catalytic activity in nucleophilic trifluoromethylation with TMSCF3 (RPr) of aromatic, aliphatic and -unsaturated aldehydes.All these reactions proceeded under very mild conditions.Selective trifluoromethylation of aldehydes over ketones can be achieved under N-heterocyclic carbene catalysis. 13The superbase 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene 15 (TBD, Scheme 6) acts as an efficient catalyst in trifluoromethylation of aldehydes using 1 (Scheme 6a). 27Aromatic aldehydes, trans-cinnamaldehyde and aliphatic aldehydes 5 were treated with 1 (RPr) in DMF in the presence of 5 mol% of 15 affording the corresponding products 6 in good yields.
The authors give a possible mechanism (Scheme 6b) in which first 15 (TBD) coordinates to the silicon atom of 1 (TMSCF3, RPr) activating the C-Si bond.Hydrogen-bond activation of the carbonyl compound with the same molecule of TBD occurs next.Both the activated silylated nucleophile and carbonyl compound can then readily react to produce the adduct and silylated TBD.Finally, silyl transfer occurs to give the silylated adduct 6 with regeneration of TBD.
In these reactions coordinating solvents like THF are most suitable and solvents that contain acidic protons should be avoided.The hydrofluorocarbon SolkaneR 365mfc (1,1,1,3,3pentafluorobutane) is a potentially useful alternative solvent for trifluoromethylation reactions, 28 since it has no impact whatsoever on the ozone layer, and it passed all the necessary toxicological tests successfully.Therefore SolkaneR 365mfc has been used as alternative solvent for the nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of aldehydes 5 (Scheme 7), in the presence of inorganic bases such as NaOH, KOH, CsOH and CsF.Solvolysis of 1 (RPr) by SolkaneR 365mfc via fluorophilic attraction might be responsible for this efficient transformation.

Scheme 7
A wide range of Lewis acids have been employed in nucleophilic trifluoromethylation with 1 (TMSCF3, RPr).Shibata and co-workers reported the first Lewis acid-catalyzed trifluoromethylation reaction of aldehydes with TMSCF3 in DMF. 29The best results within acceptable reaction times for the nucleophilic addition to 2-naphthaldehyde in DMF, were obtained when TiF4 (96%), Ti(OiPr)4 (96%) and MgCl2 (91%) were used.
The first enantioselective trifluoromethylation of carbonyl compounds was developed in 1994 by Iseki's and Kobayashi's groups 30 using chiral ammonium fluorides derived from Cinchona alkaloids as phase-transfer catalysts and 1 (TMSCF3, RPr).Since 1999 other Nbenzylquinidinium fluorides or bromides have been used as chiral ammonium salts in the enantioselective trifluoromethylation reaction of aromatic aldehydes. 13For the same purpose, a chiral triaminosulfonium salt derived from diphenylpyrrolidine has been applied to the preparation of secondary alcohols through the trifluoromethylation of aldehydes, although in this case the enantiomeric excess did not exceed 52%. 31eng et al. added BINOL/sodium salt 17 as co-catalyst to a derivative 16 (Scheme 8a, Table 1, entries 1 to 11). 32This combination was able to furnish trifluoromethylated alcohols with higher enantiomeric excess (up to 71%).

Scheme 8
Shibata et al. proposed the use of chiral crown ethers 18 as catalysts for the addition of 1 (RPr) to carbonyl compounds (Scheme 8b, Table 1, entries 12 to 16). 33Crown ethers 18 were easily synthesized from 3-iodobinaphthol and used together with catalytic potassium phenoxide, which acts as a Lewis base to activate 1 (RPr).Although these results are better than the first reported in the trifluoromethylation of aldehydes, they are slightly worse than Feng's group binary catalytic system.A general catalytic enantioselective trifluoromethylation of aromatic aldehydes using only 2 mol% of the (IPr)CuF [IPr = 1,3-bis(2´,6´-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene] and quinidine derived quaternary ammonium salt 16 as the catalyst has been developed. 34This process proceeds through [(IPr)CuCF3] and (IPr)Cu-alkoxide to give the product 7 (Scheme 8c, Table 2, entries 1-21) and it transforms a wide range of aromatic aldehydes 5 to the corresponding products with high levels of enantiomeric excess.
Recently, Shibata et al. 35 described the catalytic enantioselective trifluoromethylation reaction of aromatic aldehydes 5 using 1 (RPr) and a combination of sterically demanding Cinchona alkaloid-derived phase-transfer catalyst 19 with 10 (TMAF).The methodology provides medicinally important α-trifluoromethyl alcohols 7 with high chemical yields and moderate to good enantioselectivities (Scheme 8d, Table 2, entries 22-31).Stable hemiaminals of trifluoroacetaldehyde (fluoral) constitute powerful trifluoromethylating reagents giving good isolated yields of non-enolizable aldehydes even in heterocyclic series after activation by a stoichiometric strong base or catalytic cesium fluoride. 13n the other hand, trifluoroacetaldehyde hydrate 20 was found to be applicable as a trifluoromethyl anion source to nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of aldehydes 5 (Scheme 9). 36ctually, the reagent 20 is commercially available as a dihydrate CF3CH(OH)2•2H2O, so the optimal reaction conditions were found by treating 20 (1.5 equiv) with tBuOK (6.0 equv) in DMF at -50 °C for 30 min, followed by the addition of aldehydes 5. Aryl aldehydes bearing electron-donating substituents and halogens were shown to participate in the reaction to afford products in good to excellent yields.However, strong electron-withdrawing moieties such as NO2 and CF3 groups on the phenyl ring blocked the reaction.In comparison with the significant electronic effects, the steric hindrance of substituents did not play a major role in the reactivity of the substrates.DFT calculations have been performed to provide mechanistic insight into the present and related reactions employing 2,2,2-trifluoro-1-methoxyethanol and hexafluoroacetone hydrate.The authors envisaged that ready available trifluoroacetaldehyde hydrate 20 could enable nucleophilic trifluoromethylation by expelling formate as leaving group.

Scheme 9
Based on the previous trifluoroacetaldehyde hydrate, the corresponding hexafluoroacetone hydrate derivative 22 (Scheme 10) was prepared by treatement of an ethereal solution of hexafluoroacetone trihydrate with DBU.The powerful, new reagent amidinate salt 22 is a free flowing powder stable in air which, in basic conditions by using a combination of tetrabutylammonium chloride and tBuOK, promoted the generation of the CF3 anion.It reacted with a series of aldehydes 5 to give their trifluoromethyl alcohols in good to excellent (80-96%) isolated yields (Scheme 10). 37The new stable reagent is not hygroscopic and can be routinely weighed in air.The workup procedure for this synthetic method is notably advantageous, because the byproducts of the reaction (i.e., tBuOH, tetrabutylammonium salts, and trifluoroacetate) are easily removed by an aqueous work-up.

Scheme 10
Compounds bearing a CF3 group on sulfur, as well as, trifluoroacetic acid derivatives such as trifluoroacetamides, trifluoromethanesulfinamides, and ααα-trifluoroacetophenone also behave as efficient trifluoromethylating reagents for the nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of reactive aldehydes. 13In addition, Langlois' group employed various chiral trifluoromethanesulfinamides such as chiral trifluoromethylating agents in order to get the same enantioselectivity.In this sense, 23 reacted with benzaldehyde in the presence of chiral ammonium fluoride 24 (Scheme 11) to give trifluoromethylated benzyl alcohol in 30% enantiomeric excess. 38

Scheme 11
Potassium trialkoxy(trifluoromethyl)borates, prepared from trialkoxy borates and TMSCF3/KF according to literature procedures 39 showed to behave as convenient reagents for nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of non-enolizable aldehydes. 40Benzaldehyde and other aromatic aldehydes as well as cinnamaldehyde, were treated with 1.2 equiv of salt 25 using DMF as the solvent followed by acidic work-up and furnished trifluoromethylated alcohols 7 in excellent yields (Scheme 12).The ester group of p-methoxycarbonylbenzaldehyde remained unaffected, and the desired alcohol 7 was formed as the sole product.

Scheme 12
Diethyl trifluoromethylphosphonate 26 in the presence of alkoxide ions (potassium tertbutoxide or phenoxide) represents a new system for the nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of aryl and alkyl aldehydes (Scheme 13). 19This new reagent was prepared by reaction of CF3I with P(OEt)3 under photolytic conditions.Addition of a nucleophilic reagent such as potassium phenolate to 26 would effect cleavage of the carbon-phosphorus bond to generate an unstable trifluoromethyl carbanion, which in the presence of aldehydes 5 provided the corresponding phosphates of trifluoromethyl carbinols 27 in good yields (60-72%) in some cases accompanied by small amounts of trifluoromethyl alcohols 7 (9-16%).

Scheme 13
Trifluoromethane HCF3 has been reported 13 as a source of CF3 anion because it can be deprotonated with common bases in DMF to produce a stable equivalent of the trifluoromethyl anion, a trifluoromethylating hemiaminolate species that reacts with nonenolizable aldehydes.
All the reported papers for trifluoromethylation by HCF3 indicated the importance of required DMF.However, Prakash et al. 41 reported an excellent and elegant strategy without the help of DMF for direct nucleophilic trifluoromethylation with fluoroform (HCF3) in the presence of tBuOK in THF, (34-51%, Scheme 14a).

Scheme 14
Recently, the direct trifluoromethylation of aldehydes using fluoroform in the presence of tBu-P4 superbase has been reported by Shibata's group. 42Thus, the reaction of aromatic and heteroaromatic aldehydes 5 with HCF3 and the extremely strong non metallic organo-superbase tBu-P4 28 gives the corresponding α-trifluoromethyl alcohols 7 in good to high yields (52-88%, Scheme 14b).However, the reaction system is not applicable for the reaction of aliphatic aldehydes.
A new strategy towards [ 18 F]-trifluoromethyl-containing carbinols using [ 18 F]trifluoromethane has been developed. 43In this case gaseous [ 18 F]-trifluoromethane is synthesized in a fast and efficient manner by reaction of difluoroiodomethane with [ 18 F]fluoride/kryptofix 2.2.2 (K2.2.2) in acetonitrile in a satisfactory yield and in a reaction time of 10 minutes at room temperature (Scheme 15a).Various benzaldehydes 5 containing electron withdrawing and donating groups reacted in the presence of tBuOK in a moderate to high yield to give [ 18 F]phenyl-2,2,2-trifluoromethanol derivatives 29 (Scheme 15b).

Trifluoromethylation of ketones
In a similar way to the aldehydes, the most widely exploited route for nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of ketones involves the use of a CF3-containing reagent in combination with a suitable basic activator.General trifluoromethylation reaction between TMSCF3 1 (RPr) and ketones 30 proceeds according to Scheme 16, 13 whereby the trifluoromethylated alcohol in its trimethylsilylated form 31 is obtained upon the addition of an appropriate nucleophilic initiator to the reaction mixture.The initial addition step is usually followed by desilylation to give CF3substituted alcohols 32.

Scheme 16
Typical initiator is a fluorine containing compound such as 8 (TBAF) or CsF, but nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of ketones with 1 (RPr) have also been studied using other nucleophilic catalysts, such as, pyridine, AsPh3 and SbPh3, Et3N, n-Bu2NH, Ph3P or P(t-Bu)3, amine N-oxide, carbonate and phosphate salts. 13For example, the reaction of various aryl methyl ketones 30 with 1 (RPr) in DMF in the presence of 5 mol% of 15 (TBD, Scheme 17 a) proceeded smoothly. 27Longer reaction times were required in the case of aliphatic ketones compared to the reaction with aromatic ones.

Scheme 17
Moreover, as mentioned before, SolkaneR 365mfc has been used also as alternative solvent for the nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of ketones 30 (Scheme 17b) in the presence of inorganic bases such as NaOH, KOH, CsOH and CsF. 28e scope of trifluoromethylation process is very broad since simple ketones or , , and dicarbonyl compounds reacted with 1 (TMSCF3, RPr) in the presence of fluoride activator to give a variety of trifluoromethylated silyl eters and their corresponding tertiary alcohols, including allylic derivatives. 13Singh and Shreeve have applied the reagent 1 (RPr) in the synthesis of some novel trifluoromethyl containing alcohol derivatives. 24The reactions of 1 with various ketones, such as tetraphenylcyclopentadienone 33a, 9,10-anthraquinone 33b, in the presence of a catalytic amount of tetrabutylammonium fluoride in THF led to the formation of the corresponding trifluoromethylated silyl ether derivatives 34a,b in almost quantitative yields.Acid hydrolysis of 34a,b gave the trifluoromethylated alcohol derivatives 35a,b in excellent isolated yields (Scheme 18).

Scheme 18
The trifluoromethylation of polycyclic ketones 36-38 using 1 (RPr) in the presence of dry CsF (Scheme 19) has been described. 44

Scheme 19
Thus, the trifluoromethylation of the ketone 36 with 1 (RPr) in 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) in the presence of CsF led to a single product, which, after acidic hydrolysis, was identified as the trifluoromethylated alcohol 39, with an exo-oriented trifluoromethyl group (Scheme 19, a).Under the same conditions, the corresponding diketones,37a-b were converted to the silylated acetals 40a-b (Scheme 19b).In the case of the iminoketone 38 the addition of 1 occurred chemoselectively at the keto group yielding product 42 again with the CF3 group in the exo position (Scheme 19c).In contrast to the reaction with the parent dione 37, no cyclization via attack to the iminic carbon-nitrogen double bond was observed and the silylated adduct 42 was isolated as the only product.
Similarly, the chemoselective trifluoromethylation of the C=O group of -imino ketones derived from camphorquinone 43 was performed with 1 (RPr). 45The treatment with NaBH4 underwent only desilylation (Scheme 20).The reduction of the C=N bond, leading to amino alcohols 45, was achieved only by using diisobutylaluminium hydride (DIBAL-H) for the final step of the procedure.

Scheme 20
Nevertheless, nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of acyclic -imino ketones 46 derived from arylglyoxal, with 1 (RPr) offers a convenient access to the corresponding O-silylated -imino--(trifluoromethyl) alcohols and then to the aminoalcohols 47 (Scheme 21), 46 after desilylation and selective reduction of the C=N bond with NaBH4 all in "one pot" procedure.

Scheme 21
Another example of the preparation of amino alcohols with a primary amino group via nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of properly selected arylglyoxalimines 48 has been described. 47he nucleophilic trifluoromethylation was carried out using an equimolar amount of 1 (RPr) in dimethoxyethane and in presence of catalytic amounts of CsF (Scheme 22).-Amino-trifluoromethyl alcohol derivatives 50 were obtained via sequential nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of selected -imino ketones 48 derived from arylglyoxals, and subsequent removal of the MeO substituent located at the nitrogen atom.

Scheme 22
Portella and coworkers have described a highly diastereoselective nucleophilic mono(trifluoromethylation) of a tartaric acid-base diketone using 1 (RPr).The process was extended to the asymmetric synthesis of functionalized amides 52 (Scheme 23).The key step involves the diastereoselective addition of RPr to a tartaric acid derived ketoamide 51. 48Despite the preparation of 52 in fair yields (Scheme 23), this methodology might be applied to a variety of compounds covering aliphatic, aromatic, and heteroaromatic series, although the overall process is generally more effective in the aromatic series.

Scheme 23
This nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of a tartaric acid derived ketoamide has been used as key step in the synthesis of the four stereoisomers of 2-(trifluoromethyl) tetrahydronaphthalene-1,2-diols and/or their 2-O-allyl derivatives. 49According to the "one-pot" procedure depicted in Scheme 24, the O-allyl trifluoromethylated compound 54 was first synthesized from ketoamide 53 prepared from the bis(dimethylamide) of tartaric acid.As previously observed, the trifluoromethylation step with aliphatic ketones is less diastereoselective than it was with aromatic ones, which is advantageous because gives access to the whole set of stereoisomers.Unfortunately, the separation of the diastereomers of 54 proved to be difficult and a stepwise procedure had to be carried out to obtain each diastereomer separately.

Scheme 24
Besides ketoamides, ketoesters 55 also reacted in a selective way through the keto group with 1 (RPr, 2 equiv) in the presence of K2CO3 (10 mol %) to give the allyl alcohol 56 in 59% yield with 77% de within 12 h (Scheme 25) as described by Kobayashi's group. 50

Scheme 25
In a similar process, acylated Baylis-Hillman adducts 57 with a ketone group (Scheme 26) underwent nucleophilic attack by CF3 anion at the C=O bond. 51The trifluoromethyl alcohol derivative 58 was obtained as a mixture of two diastereoisomers and Michael addition products were not observed.

Scheme 26
The catalytic enantioselective nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of carbonyl derivatives is certainly one of the most important strategies for the synthesis of optically active trifluoromethylated alcohols. 52The combination of chiral catalysts with achiral species has proved to be a powerful tool in the construction of chiral non-racemic trifluoromethylated molecules.Using chiral ammonium salts derived from cinchona alkaloids the trifluoromethylation of ketones 30 gives the corresponding trifluoromethylated alcohols 32 (Scheme 27).
Mukaiyama et al. developed a cinchona alkaloid derivative 59 with phenoxide as counteranion (Scheme 27) 53 based on the fact that metal alkoxides are efficient nucleophilic initiators of the Ruppert-Prakash reagent 1.Therefore, they demonstrated that this cinchonidinederived quaternary ammonium phenoxide 59 could catalyze the asymmetric trifluoromethylation of ketones and with 1 efficiently, affording the desired products in high yields and with up to 87% ee (Scheme 27, Table 3, entries 1-11).

Scheme 27
Shibata's group developed a new derived cinchona alkaloid 60, being the best one for the trifluoromethylation of a wide range of aromatic ketones (Scheme 27, Table 3, entries 12-30) and using tetramethylammonium fluoride 10 (TMAF) as an initiator. 54Using this methodology quaternary trifluoromethylated alcohols were obtained with good to excellent yields and enantioselectivities up to 94%.
More recently, in 2009, Feng et al. reported 55 the use of sodium hydride as an additive to the Cinchona alkaloid derivative 61 to catalyze the trifluoromethylation of ketones with moderate to excellent yields and moderate to good enantioselectivities (Scheme 27, Table 3, entries 31-35).In this catalytic system, NaH might serve as the efficient Lewis base to activate 1 (RPr), and the amount of NaH has a great influence on the enantioselectivity of the reaction.As mentioned before for the trifluoromethylation of aldehydes, Shibata proposed the use of chiral crown ethers as catalysts for the addition of 1 (RPr) to carbonyl compounds (Scheme 27, Table 3, entries 36 and 37). 33Crown ethers 18 have been used together with catalytic potassium phenoxide, which acts as a Lewis base to activate TMSCF3.Although these results are better than the first reported in the trifluoromethylation of aldehydes, they are slightly worse than Feng's group binary catalytic system.
A new, simple and promising method for the enantioselective synthesis of -amino--(trifluoromethyl) alcohols has been developed. 56Chemoselective addition of 1 (RPr) to the carbonyl group of -imino ketones 46 in the presence of enantiomerically pure bromides 60 and 64 (15 mol%), derived from Cinchona alkaloids, and potassium fluoride or carbonate, followed by reduction, afforded O-silylated -aminoalcohols 63 in very good yields and with moderate ee values (Scheme 28).
Similar to aryl aldehydes, various benzophenone derivatives were also found to be reactive to the nucleophilic trifluoromethylation using trifluoroacetaldehyde hydrate 20 (1.5 equiv) with tBuOK (6.0 equiv) in DMF at −50 °C for 30 min, followed by the addition of ketone 30 (1.0 equiv). 36Bulky phenyl ketones also reacted to yield the corresponding products 32 in excellent yield.Although enolizable acetophenone was not a viable substrate in the present reaction, adamantan-2-one was smoothly trifluoromethylated because of its low enolizability (Scheme 29a).
A new reagent, the amidinate salt of hexafluoroacetone hydrate 22 (Scheme 29b) has been used also for the conversion of a series of ketones to their trifluoromethyl alcohols 32 in good to excellent (78-94%) isolated yields. 37

Scheme 29
Trifluoroacetophenone, phenyl trifluoromethyl sulfone or sulfoxide, a variety of novel trifluoroacetamides and trifluoromethanesulfinamides derived from O-silylated aminoalcohols can be used as nucleophilic trifluoromethylating reagents towards non-enolizable ketones by action of potassium tert-butoxide. 13Likewise, potassium trimethoxy(trifluoromethyl)borate 25 (Scheme 30, a) is shown to behave as convenient reagent for nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of ketones 30 to give CF3-substituted alcohols 32 in good yields. 40

Scheme 30
Diethyl trifluoromethylphosphonate 26 in the presence of alkoxide ions (potassium tertbutoxide or phenoxide) represents a new system for the nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of ketones. 19In the presence of potassium tert-butoxide, non-enolizable ketones 30 provide the corresponding trifluoromethyl carbinols 32 in high yields (Scheme 30, b).
Trifluoromethane (fluoroform) as a source of CF3 anion has been used also for nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of ketones and as has been seen for aldehydes. 13More recently, the trifluoromethylation of ketones and chalcones using HCF3 in the presence of KHMDS has been accomplished by Prakash et al. 41 in moderate to good yields (38-81%, Scheme 31a)

Scheme 31
In a similar form, the HCF3/ tBu-P4 base 28/THF system (without the presence of DMF) is also applicable for the trifluoromethylation of ketones. 42Cinnamyl-substituted ketone chalcone, alkynyl-substituted ketone, and benzophenones 30 were suitable substrates for this transformation (Scheme 31, b) and were efficiently into α-trifluoromethyl alcohols 32 in high yields.However, as in the case of aldehydes, the reaction system is not applicable for the reaction of aliphatic ketones.
[ 18 F]Trifluoromethane is used also in the reaction with ketones forming [ 18 F]trifluoromethyl carbinols 66 in good yields. 43Reaction with substituted benzophenones 65 (Scheme 32, R = Ph) provided the expected products in excellent yields (Scheme 32).In the case of acetophenones 65 (Scheme 32, R = Me), enolate formation was expected under the applied reaction conditions, which would lead to a decreased availability of reactive ketones.Indeed, higher base and precursor concentrations were required to obtain the products in satisfactory yields (Scheme 32).Substrate degradation, as was observed using UV-HPLC, caused by the strong basic conditions probably led to low yields.

Trifluoromethylation of esters
Previous reports have described the poor reactivity of trifluoromethyl anion towards esters, 17,57 because simple esters are not sufficiently electrophilic to react with 1 (TMSCF3, RPr) even when stoichiometric amounts of fluoride are used to promote the process.CsF is a very good initiator for the trifluoromethylation of esters with 1 (RPr).At room temperature (25 °C) with cesium fluoride, carboxylic esters 67 were found to react to give the silyl ether intermediates, which afforded the trifluoromethyl ketones 68 after hydrolysis (Scheme 33). 57

Scheme 33
Reactions of various keto esters, N-protected amino esters, a variety of amino acid derived Nsubstituted oxazolidin-5-ones and benzylated mono-and bicyclic imides with 1 (RPr) in the presence of catalytic amounts of cesium fluoride led to the formation of the respective CF3adducts. 13Fustero et al. have developed an efficient method for preparing both anti-and syn-αamino-β-trifluoromethyl alcohols. 58The method involves the addition of 1 (RPr) to optically pure 5,6-dihydro-2H-1,4-oxazin-2-ones 69 (Scheme 34) to afford the corresponding trifluoromethyl imino lactols 71.Various fluoride sources were evaluated but finally good yields were achieved with tris(dimethylamino)sulfonium difluorotrimethylsilicate 70 (TASF).The stereoselective reduction of imino lactols 71 with LiBH4 produced anti-amino diols 72 as the major isomers with good selectivity.

Scheme 34
For the preparation of the corresponding syn diastereoisomers 74 the starting substrates 69 were first hydrogenated and the amino group was protected with BnBr to yield 73 (Scheme 34).The addition of 1 (RPr) to these amino lactones was more effective when using 9 (TBAT) as activator.Further reduction with NaBH4 produced syn-diols 74 with excellent diastereoselectivity (> 97:3).Using the same methodology this group has described the preparation of optically pure fluorinated quaternary piperidines from the quiral iminolactone derived from (R)-phenylglycinol.The addition of 1 (RPr) with tris(dimethylamino)sulfonium difluorotrimethylsilicate 70 (TASF) as fluoride source followed by iodoamination and migration of the CF3 group allowed access to derivatives of -trifluoromethylpipecolic acid. 59s already indicate above for the nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of carbonyl compounds, SolkaneR 365mfc (1,1,1,3,3-pentafluorobutane) is a good alternative solvent for trifluoromethylation reactions of esters. 28In SolkaneR 365mfc, the reaction of oxazolidin-5-one 75 with 1 (RPr) and with CsF proceeded quite nicely to afford 76 in 97% yield (Scheme 35).

Scheme 35
Trifluoromethylation of Baylis-Hillman adducts 77 with an ester group was performed using 1 (RPr) in the presence of Bu4NOAc and using DMF as solvent (Scheme 36). 51However, an inseparable mixture of Michael addition product 78 and derivative 79 (both as isomeric mixtures) was obtained with low yield (30%).

Scheme 36
Analogously to carbonyl compounds (vide supra), nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of formate esters and methylbenzoate using HCF3 and KHMDS in toluene or THF (without using DMF) has been described by Prakash and col. 41Although, trifluoromethylated derivatives were obtained in low yields.

Trifluoromethylation of imines and their analogues
Trifluoromethylation of imines using nucleophilic reagents has been reviewed and gives access to -trifluoromethylated amines, including asymmetric derivatives. 60As it happens with carbonyl compounds (see previous sections), the most used reagent towards this end is the Ruppert-Prakash 1 (RPr) which can be activated in different ways (Scheme 37).

Scheme 37
Similarly, the trifluoromethylation of tosylimines 82 has been accomplished by the use of 1 (RPr) and phosphine P(tBu)3 as an activator in DMF (Scheme 38). 61

Scheme 38
Typically, Lewis base activation, usually performed with fluoride anion, is required in stoichiometric or overstoichiometric amounts and only few methods are catalytic but these are limited to very reactive substrates, such as azirines, or require solvents like DMF and provide low efficiency.Recently, a new protocol for the catalytic trifluoromethylation of imines has been disclosed, using a phase transfer methodology with tetra-N-butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB, 20 mol%) and sodium phenoxide as stoichiometric promoter (Scheme 39).

Scheme 39
Thus, the combination of 1.5 equivalents of 1 (RPr) and 10 mol% TBAB as catalyst and 1.1 equivalents of PhONa produced the trifluoromethylation of imines 80 in good yields (Scheme 39).In the case of unbranched aldehydes, competing tautomerization to the corresponding enamides was avoided thanks to a slight modification of the protocol, involving the in situ generation of the imines at low temperature from the corresponding -amido sulfones 84, although sacrificing additional equivalents of 1 (RPr) and PhONa (Scheme 39).Therefore, this procedure allowed the obtainment of the adducts in satisfactory yields, even with imines derived from aldehydes (Scheme 39).Furthermore, a variety of protecting groups can be used and tolerated, including sulfonyl, diphenylphosphinoyl and carbobenzyloxy groups.
The diastereoselective approach was achieved by Prakash and co-workers, using a chiral auxiliary and leading to chiral -trifluoromethylated amines. 63The reactivity and stereoselectivity of the reaction are dependent on the fluoride source.Thus, chiral sulfinyl imines 85 reacted with 1 (RPr) in the presence of 9 (TBAT) 64 in THF to give high diastereoselectivities and yields of the trifluoromethylated products 86, which can be hydrolyzed to the chiral amine salts 87 with high enantioselectivities (Scheme 40).The same group extended the method to the asymmetric synthesis of trifluoromethylated allylic amines 65 and vicinal ethylenediamines. 66

Scheme 40
Another diastereoselective application of this addition including concomitant cyclization leading to trifluoromethylated isoindolines 89 has been disclosed recently (Scheme 41). 67This is a tandem nucleophilic addition/intramolecular aza-Michael reaction initiated also by 9 (TBAT) and provides good yields and diastereoselectivities either with electron-rich or electron-poor aromatic rings.

Scheme 41
Alkylimines are unreactive when treated with 1 (RPr) under conventional basic conditions.Therefore, a strategy to increase the reactivity of alkyl imines which involves the use of protic solvents has been developed.Indeed, it was found that HF generated in situ from TFA or triflic acid and potassium hydrodifluoride was able to activate the reaction between alkylimines and 1 (RPr).This is a general method applicable to aldimines 80 and ketimines 90 as well and the corresponding amines 81 or 91 are obtained with good yields (Scheme 42). 68

Scheme 42
This approach has been employed in a three-step synthesis of trifluoromethylamines 94 from aldehydes 5 or ketones 30 without the need to isolate or purify the intermediates 92 or 93, thus providing a high yielding methodology (Scheme 43). 69

Figure 2
It is noteworthy that the reagent 96 is effective in the addition to both N-tosyl aldimines and N-tolyl sulfinimines.In the later case, the diastereoselectivities while good (dr up to 94:6), fall short of those observed by Prakash in the trifluoromethylation of (2-methyl-2propane)sulfinaldimines. 63rifluoromethyl phenyl sulfone 97 can also be used to trifluoromethylate imines 80, including phenyl and sulfinyl derivatives, in the presence of tBuOK to provide the corresponding amines 81 with good yields (Scheme 44). 70It is remarkable that starting from a homochiral sulfinimine, reaction is diastereoselective 98:2).

Scheme 44
Cationic electrophiles, such as nitrones and iminium salts, would be expected to interact efficiently with nucleophilic trifluoromethylating reagents, as carbonyls and imines do.Indeed, this strategy has been used to improve the reactivity of alkylimines and hydrazones.For instance, the dimethyliminium salt derived from benzaldehyde rapidly reacted with the anionic potassium trimethoxy(trifluoromethyl)borate nucleophile 25 yielding the corresponding α-trifluoromethylated amine.In this case, however, the reaction was not more efficient compared to the reaction with benzaldehyde itself. 40minium 71 or hydrazonium complexes, 72,73 obtained by treatment with Lewis acids also reacted towards 1 (RPr), therefore providing a strategy oriented to overcome the low reactivity of the precursors alkyl imines and hydrazones.This idea has been employed to develop the first enantioselective trifluoromethylation of imine equivalents.Indeed, up to 2009 only classical diastereoselective approaches for the stereoselective trifluoromethylation of imines or their equivalents using chiral auxiliaries had been reported, 63,65,66,74,75 and there were no examples of enantioselective variants.Then, as reported by Shibata, azomethine imines 98 derived from pirazolidinones (hydrazonium derivatives) were made to react with 1 (RPr) in the presence of 10% of a chiral quaternary ammonium bromide (cinchoninium salt) 61 or 100a and KOH to successfully give trifluoromethylated amines 99 in good yield and enantiomeric excesses (Scheme 45, a). 76Improved reaction conditions were achieved recently (Scheme 45b) using environmentally benign Solkane solvent at -20ºC and a novel iododerivative of cinchoninium salt 100b as catalyst. 77

Scheme 45
Finally, nitrones derived from carbohydrates have been reduced through nucleophilic addition with RPr reagent 1.In this way trifluoromethylated pyrrolidine derivatives were obtained in a stereoselective way with average yields (Scheme 46). 78The resulting pyrrolidines were further transformed by cleavage of the N-O bond and removal of protecting groups to give trifluoromethylated analogues of the natural product 6-deoxy-DMDP.Scheme 46

Conclusions
Recent developments in nucleophilic trifluoromethylation reactions of carbonyl and imine derivatives are outlined.During the last six years several methods and strategies been developed, nowadays representing reliable methodologies for the preparation of CF3-substituted alcohols or amines.It is noteworthy that recent advances in fluorination technology give access to radiolabelled 18 F-containing derivatives ready to be used in positron emission tomography (PET).However, despite the remarkable advances, there are still important limitations to these new approaches.In particular, the nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of carboxylic acid derivatives, such as esters or acyl halides and the asymmetric introduction of trifluoromethyl group are challenging problems that remain to be addressed.Further development of new methodologies is necessary for preparation of chiral trifluoromethylated molecules to be increasingly used in pharmaceutical and agrochemical industry.