Evidence for Direct Transmetalation of Au^III–F with Boronic Acids

Abstract

The underlying reactivity of Au^III-F species with aryl boronic acids has been studied in detail taking advantage of four novel, stable difluoro-[(C^N)AuF₂], arylmonofluoro-[(C^N)AuArF], and alkylmonofluoro-[(C^N)AuAlkF] gold(III) complexes, prepared and isolated in monomeric form. We provide the first experimental evidence for a direct Au^III-F/B transmetalation preceding the Csp²-Csp² or Csp³-Csp² bond formation.