Synlett 2012; 23(18): 2719-2720
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1317348
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

N-Fluorobenzenesulfonimide

Vincent Bizet
UMR 6014 CNRS COBRA, Université et INSA de Rouen, 1 rue Tesnière, 76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan, France   Email: vincent.bizet@insa-rouen.fr
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Publication History

Publication Date:
25 September 2012 (online)

Introduction

N-Fluorobenzenesulfonimide (NFSI) is a colorless crystalline powder with a melting point of 114–116 °C. One of the most convenient routes to prepare NFSI in high yield is the fluorination with 10% v/v F2 in N2 of N-(phenyl­sulfonyl)benzenesulfonamide in MeCN at –40 °C (Scheme [1]).[ 1 ] NFSI can also be prepared from the corresponding sodium salt.[ 2 ] NFSI has been widely used as an electrophilic fluorinating agent most particularly in the field of asymmetric electrophilic fluorination.[ 3 ] But NFSI is more than an electrophilic fluorinating agent: It is also a strong oxidant for organometallic intermediates to promote reductive elimination through high-oxidation-state transition metals, an amination reagent and even a phenylsulfonyl group transfer reagent.

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Scheme 1 Synthesis of N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide (NFSI)