Recent advances in fluorovinyl-containing compounds

The reaction of the HFC-replacements CF3CH2F (BFC-134a) and CF3CH2Cl (HCFC-133a) with two equivalents of butyllithium generates, in high yield, the fluorovinyllithium reagents CF2=CFLi and CF2=CClLi, respectively. These lithium reagents have been used to ae synthesise fluorovinyl-containing transition metal and main-group compounds in good yields. The resulting compounds may themselves then be used as stable transfer reagents. Here we report the synthesis of new fluorovinyl-containing organometallic complexes, fluorovinyl-containing phosphine ligands of the type RnP(CX=CF2)(3-n) (n = 1, 2; X = Cl, F) and their complexes. The single crystal X-ray structures of [Fe(eta (5)-C5H5)(CO)(2)(CCl=CF2)], cis-[PtBr2{PEt2(CF=CF2)}(2)] and trans-[PtCl2{PPh2(CCl=CF2)}(2)] are reported. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.