F2 Chemicals Limited

John Stewart Moilliet

Richard Dickinson Chambers

John Hutchinson

The invention provides a method for the preparation of a dicarbonyl compound of formula (I) RCOCFRCORwherein Ris selected from alkyl, substituted alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, substituted aryl and acetoxy, Ris selected from hydrogen, halogen, nitro, cyano, alkyl, substituted alkyl, cycloalkyl, acetoxy, aryl and substituted aryl, and Ris selected from alkyl, substitued alkyl, oxyalkyl and substituted oxyalkyl, the method comprising treating a dicarbonyl compound of formula (II) RCOCHRCORwith elemental fluorine in a solvent which consists of methanol or aqueous methanol. The method provides an inexpensive and convenient synthetic route to 2-fluoro- and 2,2-difluoro-1,3-diketones and -1,3-ketoesters.

Fluorination of dicarbonyl compounds

The present invention provides a method of substituting a carbonyl compound with fluorine at the &agr;-position, comprising reaching the carbonyl compound with a fluorinating present of a metal-containing catalyst. The reaction results in replacement of a hydrogen atom by fluorine. The catalyst, which is used in a catalytically effective amount, is preferably a transition metal. In one class of methods the catalyst is a transition metal compound. In another class of methods, the catalyst is an elemental metal, in which case the carbonyl compound has an activating group attached to the carbon atom which is substituted by fluorine.

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Lancashire, United Kingdom

John Stewart Moilliet