The Synthesis of Bromomethyltrifluoroborates through Continuous Flow Chemistry

Abstract

A continuous flow process was developed for the synthesis of potassium bromomethyltrifluoroborate, a key precursor for Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reagents. The continuous flow process was used to produce potassium bromomethyltrifluoroborate on scales from grams to kilograms, and the successful process utilized a fraction of the resources required for the batch synthesis. In the plant, a team of three people produced approximately 100 kg of potassium bromomethyltrifluoroborate in less than 4 weeks. This process makes it both practical and economical to use potassium bromomethyltrifluoroborate and its derivatives for multikilogram-scale Suzuki–Miyaura couplings.