Computational insights into the effects of reagent structure and bases on nucleophilic monofluoromethylation of aldehydes

Although fluorobis(phenylsulfonyl)methane(FBSM)and its cyclic analog 2-fluoro-1,3-benzodithiole-1,1,3,3-tetraoxide(FBDT)possess similar physicochemical properties,Shibata et al.found that FBSM failed to undergo nucleophilic monofluoromethylation of aldehydes regardless of the reaction conditions at-tempted(using various organic and inorganic bases).However,it was later discovered by Hu et al.that the nucleophilic monofluoromethylation could be accomplished by employing lithium hexamethyldisi-lazide(LiHMDS)as a base.Herein,we present an in-depth computational investigation into the intrigu-ing effects of reagent structure and bases on the nucleophilic monofluoromethylation of aldehydes.The computations reveal the 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane(DABCO)catalyzed nucleophilic monofluoromethy-lation of benzaldehyde with acyclic FBSM is a thermodynamically unfavorable process mainly due to the destabilizing O···O lone pair repulsions in FBSM product,whereas such repulsion could be largely avoided in FBDT product because of its constrained five-membered ring structure.Employing LiHMDS as a base can not only facilitate the nucleophilic monofluoromethylation via Li–O interactions but also render the monofluoromethylation of benzaldehyde with FBSM thermodynamically favored.